A single Ebola patient treated in a U.S. hospital will generate eight 55-gallon barrels of medical waste each day. Protective gloves, gowns, masks and booties are donned and doffed by all who approach the patient's bedside and then discarded. Disposable medical instruments, packaging, bed linens, cups, plates, tissues, towels, pillowcases and anything that is used to clean up after the patient must be thrown away. Dealing with this collection of pathogen-filled debris without triggering new infections is a legal and logistical challenge for every U.S. hospital. Dr. Thomas Ksiazek, a professor of microbiology and immunology at UTMB, believes there's been a lot of overreaction on the topic of Ebola medical waste because there are a number of ways to deal with it. The CDC recommend autoclaving (a form of sterilizing) or incinerating the waste as a surefire means of destroying the microbes. This will pose the biggest challenge for states such as California where burning infected waste is effectively prohibited.