Respiratory Protection Against Bioaerosols: Literature Review and Research Needs

Details

• Personal Author:
  BerryAnn R ; Rengasamy A ; Zhuang Z
• Description:
  Research on respiratory protection against biologic agents is important to address major concerns such as occupational safety and terrorist attack. This review describes the literature on respiratory protection against bioaerosols and identifies research gaps. Respiratory protection is a complex field involving a number of factors, such as the efficiency of respirator filter material; face-piece fitting; and maintenance, storage, and reuse of respirators. Several studies used nonpathogenic microorganisms having physical characteristics similar to that of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to analyze microbial penetration through respirators. Some studies showed that high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) and N95 filters provided a higher level of protection than dust/mist (DM) and dust/mist/fume (DMF) filters. Flow rate and relative humidity appear to alter the level of penetration of microorganisms through respirator filters. The relationship between microbial penetration through respirator filters and the aerodynamic diameter, length, or other physical characteristics of microorganisms remains controversial. Whether reaerosolization of bioaerosol particles should be a concern is unclear, given the fact that one study has demonstrated significant reaerosolization of 1- to 5-microm particles loaded onto respirator filters. Respirator maintenance, storage, and decontamination are important factors to be considered when reusing respirators. The respiratory protection against biologic warfare agents such as anthrax in military and civilian situations is described. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Biological Products Biological Warfare Agents Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-filters Biological-agents Biological-warfare-agents Occupational-safety-programs Respirators Respiratory-protection Respiratory-protective-equipment
• ISSN:
  0196-6553
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  345-354
• Volume:
  32
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026131
• Citation:
  Am J Infect Control 2004 Oct; 32(6):345-354
• Contact Point Address:
  Appavoo Rengasamy, PhD, National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Bruceton, PA 15236
• Email:
  rda5@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Infection Control
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e699bb2912e54bd64c46701e5e134a650359b792ae89b1afa9d0e797c3f346d927a44ac3cbcba1e43b21513eb8796664fddacc2b29015d4eed4096b5065ba288
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/197201/cdc_197201_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 176.44 KB ]