Details:

Alternative Title:
Am J Infect Control
Personal Author:
Rengasamy, Samy; Sbarra, Deborah; Nwoko, Julian; Shaffer, Ronald;
Rengasamy, Samy; Sbarra, Deborah; Nwoko, Julian; Shaffer, Ronald; Less -
Description:
Background Surgical N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a respirator and cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a surgical mask, are often used to protect from the inhalation of infectious aerosols and from splashes/sprays of body fluids in health care facilities. A shortage of respirators can be expected during a pandemic. The availability of surgical N95 FFRs can potentially be increased by incorporating FDA clearance requirements in the NIOSH respirator approval process. Methods Fluid resistance of NIOSH-approved N95 FFRs, and FDA-cleared surgical N95 FFRs and surgical masks was tested using the ASTM F1862 method at 450 and 635 cm/sec velocities and compared with the results from a third-party independent laboratory. Blood penetration through different layers of filter media of masks were also analyzed visually. Results Four N95 FFR models showed no test failures at both velocities. The penetration results obtained in the NIOSH laboratory were comparable to those from the third-party independent laboratory. The number of respirator samples failing the test increased with increasing test velocity. Conclusions The results indicate that several NIOSH-approved N95 FFR models would likely pass FD clearance requirements for resistance to synthetic blood penetration.
Subject:
[+]
Aerosols
Filtration
Humans
Masks
N95 Respirators
Occupational Exposure
Respiratory Protective Devices

Source:
Am J Infect Control. 43(11):1190-1196;
Pubmed ID:
26231551
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC4658509
Document Type:
Journal Article;
Funding:
CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States;
Name as Subject:
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health;
Place as Subject:
United States;
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:c9f615254e108b9ed5b327e1e6e7683f758d1e04c17b04a003dd1797e81e4409
File Type:

Supporting Files

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