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Thursday, October 8, 2009

MedPageToday Unmasks the Surgical Mask

Filed under: Public Health

MedPageToday has published an interesting article that looks at the evidence of whether surgical masks, as well as tight seal respirators, such as N95, provide any protection to healthcare workers or patients. So what's the article's findings? The evidence that masks provide any meaningful respiratory shield is indeed quite slim, even for the operating room environment. Hence the conclusion:

"Masks and respirators should be considered the 'last line of defense' in a hierarchy of infection control measures."

Full story: Unmasking the Surgical Mask: Does It Really Work?...

Image credit Eneas @ Flickr...

email this article to a friend      print this!           comments and peer reviews (2)




replies: 2 comments
Open comments are not moderated, although abusive and vulgar remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Medgadget.com. Please consult our disclaimer.

You should mention the fact that there is a cheap solution to ensuring a proper seal between your face and the respirator.

Breathe Safely, LLC - www.breathesafely.com is the only company making respirator seals. The University of Minnesota found the seal to be more effective, more comfortable, and ALL participants had a higher sense of security/protection with the Breathe Safely seal.

There is a brief(and very popular) video on YouTube about their respirator seals, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jubDGWfOvYE

Why use a respirator when they don't function they way they are supposed to? I love using the seal and I'm no longer going to use a stand alone respirator.



Posted by: Brent Rangen
on October 12, 2009 02:02 PM GMT

You should mention the fact that there is a cheap solution to ensuring a proper seal between your face and the respirator.

Breathe Safely, LLC - www.breathesafely.com is the only company making respirator seals. The University of Minnesota found the seal to be more effective, more comfortable, and ALL participants had a higher sense of security/protection with the Breathe Safely seal.

There is a brief(and very popular) video on YouTube about their respirator seals, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jubDGWfOvYE

Why use a respirator when they don't function they way they are supposed to? I love using the seal and I'm no longer going to use a stand alone respirator.

I think it works on surgical flat masks too!


Posted by: Brent Rangen
on October 12, 2009 02:03 PM GMT

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