Moist heat as a promising method to decontaminate N95 masks: A large scale clinical study comparing four decontamination modalities-moist heat, steam, ultraviolet-C irradiation, and hydrogen peroxide plasma

被引：0

作者：

Wong, Hei Man ^{[1
,2
,3
]}

Mun, Cheok Hong ^{[4
]}

Loke, Weng Keong ^{[4
]}

Lim, Wei Qi ^{[4
]}

Chee, Geraldine Wei Yen ^{[4
]}

Tan, Sook Lan ^{[4
]}

Teo, Jye Yng ^{[5
]}

Yang, Yi Yan ^{[5
]}

Tanoto, Hendrix ^{[6
]}

Loh, Xian Jun ^{[6
]}

Lee, Chen Ee ^{[7
]}

Tiang, Chuanwen ^{[7
]}

Wan, Wei Yee ^{[3
,8
]}

Cheong, Charlene ^{[1
]}

How, Kue Bien ^{[2
]}

Ling, Moi Lin ^{[2
,3
]}

Tan, Ban Hock ^{[1
,3
]}

机构：

[1] Singapore Gen Hosp, Dept Infect Dis, Singapore, Singapore

[2] Singapore Gen Hosp, Dept Infect Prevent & Epidemiol, Singapore, Singapore

[3] Duke NUS Med Sch, Singapore, Singapore

[4] DSO Natl Labs, Singapore, Singapore

[5] ASTAR, Inst Bioengn & Bioimaging, Singapore, Singapore

[6] ASTAR, Inst Mat Res & Engn, Singapore, Singapore

[7] Singapore Hlth Serv Pte Ltd, Singapore, Singapore

[8] Singapore Gen Hosp, Dept Microbiol, Singapore, Singapore

来源：

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES | 2023年 / 136卷

关键词：

Mask decontamination; Mask fit; Mask integrity; EXTENDED USE; IMPACT;

D O I：

10.1016/j.ijid.2023.09.016

中图分类号：

R51 [传染病];

学科分类号：

100401 ;

摘要：

Background: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a global shortage of masks. Although mask reprocessing was practiced, no clinical study has assessed systematically the impact of repeated cycles of wear and decontamination on the integrity of N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs).Methods: We evaluated mask fit assessed by qualitative respirator fit test (QRFT) after each cycle of wear and decontamination, as well as four measures of mask integrity-bacterial filtration efficacy, particle filtration efficacy, differential pressure, and splash resistance through five cycles of wear and decontamination using one of the four modalities (moist heat, steam, ultraviolet-C irradiation, and hydrogen peroxide plasma).Results: A total of 60.6% (hydrogen peroxide plasma) to 77.5% (moist heat) of the FFRs passed five cycles of wear and decontamination, as assessed by the wearers passing QRFT all five times. Moist heat -decontaminated FFRs retained all technical measures of integrity through all five cycles. Conclusions: This is the first large-scale study to assess systematically the impact (clinically and quanti-tatively) on N95 FFR integrity of repeated cycles of wearing followed by decontamination. Our results suggest that moist heat is a promising method for decontaminating N95 FFRs. Performing QRFT after every cycle of wear and decontamination ensures wearer safety. Although there is currently no mask shortage, reprocessing may reduce medical waste and improve sustainability.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

引用

页码：151 / 157

页数：7