The Hampshire firm that has developed the technology to destroy hazardous waste on site, PyroPure Ltd, is to donate a PyroPure^® system to West Africa in a bid to help stop the spread of the disease - particularly amongst health professionals treating victims of the deadly virus.

The move follows the recent announcement from the company’s Executive Chairman, Peter Selkirk, in which he called for UK hospitals to rethink their approach to hazardous waste disposal in the wake of the outbreak.

In the statement he claimed that the UK was “woefully underprepared when it comes to hazardous waste disposal in high-risk environments” and that the recent outbreak should “provide a wake up call to the UK”.

On the company’s decision to support health professionals in the field Peter comments: “As the creators of a technology that can restrict the spread of Ebola in West Africa we cannot simply sit back and make bold statements whilst the outbreak continues to destroy lives. It’s time to put our money where our mouth is and deploy PyroPure^® technology in an environment that needs all the help it can get in containing one of the world’s most dangerous diseases. Whilst our gesture only represents a small part of a huge operation we hope that the contribution goes some way to halt the outbreak.”

Pyropure’s latest announcement comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that the devastation is much worse that initially thought. In a recent statement* on the WHO website the agency said that “the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak” and that “the outbreak is expected to continue for some time”.

PyroPure is currently assembling an in-house team who will travel out to West Africa to install the system and train health practitioners responsible for handling hazardous and potentially infectious medical waste.

Ebola is one of the most lethal diseases known, with a mortality rate often reaching 90 per cent. It causes haemorrhagic fever and death usually results. Symptoms of Ebola include the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. Vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, failure of kidney and liver function and internal and external bleeding usually follow.

Pyropure is controlled by Disruptive Capital Finance’s (DCF) Sustainable Technology Fund.  DCF is a subsidiary of the Truell Charitable Foundation, whose trustees are committed to providing solutions to human health and to sustainable conservation.

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