Monkeypox

On 4th December 2019, a rarely imported case of monkeypox virus was reported in the South West of the UK. It is believed the patient contracted the infection while visiting Nigeria.

The patient was transferred to a specialist infectious disease centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London.

Monkeypox (related to but les series than Smallpox) is a viral zoonotic disease (transmitted from animals to humans) and whilst it does not spread easily between people, it may occur when a person comes into close contact with an animal and more rarely an individual, or materials contaminated with the virus. It was this risk that Ambipar were called upon to mitigate through the provision of specialist decontamination and waste management services.

Project Works:

Ambipar’s response team and in-house Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor worked closely with various stakeholders including Public Health England (PHE), the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Local Authority to undertake discrete decontamination operations at two residential properties, a GP Surgery and 60-seater coach and to ensure that the resulting Category A waste was transported in line with waste regulations and DfT derogations.

Ambipar’s ADR drivers collected and transported the Category A waste from multiple sites for incineration at Porton Down.

Results:

As a Licenced Waste Carrier providing industry leading nationwide response times onsite within 2, 12 and 48 hours (depending on nature of the incident) our highly trained response teams were able to support the health and local authorities in their response to the incident and the monkeypox was contained, with no further transmission reported.