Surgical face masks worn by patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: impact on infectivity of air on a hospital ward.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Drug-resistant tuberculosis transmission in hospitals threatens staff and patient health. Surgical face masks used by patients with tuberculosis (TB) are believed to reduce transmission but have not been rigorously tested.

Objectives

We sought to quantify the efficacy of surgical face masks when worn by patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

Methods

Over 3 months, 17 patients with pulmonary MDR-TB occupied an MDR-TB ward in South Africa and wore face masks on alternate days. Ward air was exhausted to two identical chambers, each housing 90 pathogen-free guinea pigs that breathed ward air either when patients wore surgical face masks (intervention group) or when patients did not wear masks (control group). Efficacy was based on differences in guinea p

SUBMITTER: Dharmadhikari AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3359891 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature