Unlabelled: Amid the 4th wave of COVID-19, Vietnam reopened its economy, which placed extra burdens on the COVID-19 waste management system. This study analyzed existing issues and recommended adaptations to secure appropriate management of COVID-19 waste under the 'new normal' pandemic period. Results showed changes in COVID-19 waste characteristics (e.g., rapid rise in waste generation, lower percentage of plastic) and multiple other issues (e.g., presence of COVID-19 waste in municipal waste, lack of temporary storage sites and local treatment capacity), along with greater waste-handling responsibilities placed on authorities and higher infection risks. To adapt to the 'new normal', introduction of separate handling routes and collaboration in waste treatment were recommended. Employing the network of pharmacies used for vaccination would require COVID-19 waste collection from scattered, small-scale sources as part of the waste management solution. Also, following the 4R initiatives (reduce, reuse, recycle, recovery) could help ease the burden on the country's waste system and provide additional opportunities to move towards a circular economy in the post-acute COVID-19 era. The findings should contribute to a safer co-existence with the virus through appropriate waste management in Vietnam and could be used to tackle waste problems in other developing countries.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10163-022-01563-x.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10163-022-01563-x | DOI Listing |
Disaster Med Public Health Prep
January 2025
Department of Clinical Research, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, ME, USA.
Objectives: Plastics in the environment have moved from an "eye-sore" to a public health threat. Hospitals are one of the biggest users of single-use plastics, and there is growing literature looking at not only plastics in the environment but health care's overall contribution to its growth.
Methods: This study was a retrospective review at a 411-bed level II trauma hospital over 47 months pre and post the last wave of COVID-19 affecting this hospital.
Front Psychol
January 2025
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
Introduction: Threats to our survival are often posed by the environment in which humans have evolved or live today. Animal and human ancestors developed complex physiological and behavioral response systems to cope with two types of threats: immediate physical harm from predators or conspecifics, triggering fear, and the risk of infections from parasites and pathogens leading to the evolution of the behavioral immune system (BIS) with disgust as the key emotion. Here we ask whether the BIS has adapted to protect us from pandemic risks or poisoning by modern toxic substances.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.
Mucus is a complex hydrogel that acts as a defensive and protective barrier in various parts of the human body. The rise in the level of viral infections has underscored the importance of advancing research into mucus-mimicking hydrogels for the efficient design of antiviral agents. Herein, we demonstrate the gram-scale synthesis of biocompatible, lignin-based virus-binding inhibitors that reduce waste and ensure long-term availability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Health Serv Res
January 2025
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda.
Background: A key concern for global public health is nosocomial infections. Essential to the fight against nosocomial infection, is healthcare professionals' knowledge and attitudes. Therefore, this study investigated healthcare professionals' knowledge and attitudes toward nosocomial infection at the Kiruddu Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México City, México.
Dogs can discriminate between people infected with SARS-CoV-2 from those uninfected, although their results vary depending on the settings in which they are exposed to infected individuals or samples of urine, sweat or saliva. This variability likely depends on the viral load of infected people, which may be closely associated with physiological changes in infected patients. Determining this viral load is challenging, and a practical approach is to use the cycle threshold (Ct) value of a RT-qPCR test.
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