Dataset Information

N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Basics, Types, and Shortage Solutions.

ABSTRACT: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly infectious, with the current pandemic causing significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. As large numbers of frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) have also been infected and several have died, there is much global concern about protective measures for them, particularly those performing surgery or other procedures with close patient contact. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been and there remains a shortage in the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), including the N95 filtering facepiece (FFP) respirator, for HCWs. N95 respirators have filtration efficiency of 95% of aerosol particles. Surgical N95 respirators are used where fluid resistance is also required together with respiratory protection, e.g. during surgery or interventional procedures. The shortage of N95 respirators may be overcome by extended use and reuse - comprising rotation and decontamination by approved techniques. The additional role of powered air-purifying respirators (PAPR) is also discussed.

SUBMITTER: Srinivasan S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7513643 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Basics, Types, and Shortage Solutions.

Srinivasan S S Peh Wcg W

Malaysian orthopaedic journal 20200701 2

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly infectious, with the current pandemic causing significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. As large numbers of frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) have also been infected and several have died, there is much global concern about protective measures for them, particularly those performing surgery or other procedures with close patient contact. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been and there remains a shortage in the supply of perso ...[more]

PMID: 32983373

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Project description:BackgroundThere is global shortage of Personal Protective Equipment due to COVID-19 pandemic. N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (N95-FFRs) provide respiratory protection against respiratory pathogens including SARS-CoV-2. There is scant literature on reprocessing methods which can enable reuse of N95-FFRs.AimWe conducted this study to evaluate research done, prior to COVID-19 pandemic, on various decontamination methods for reprocessing of N95-FFRs.MethodsWe searched 5 electronic databases (Pubmed, Google Scholar, Crossref, Ovid, ScienceDirect) and 1 Grey literature database (OpenGrey). We included original studies, published prior to year 2020, which had evaluated any decontamination method on FFRs. Studies had evaluated a reprocessing method against parameters namely physical changes, user acceptability, respirator fit, filter efficiency, microbicidal efficacy and presence of chemical residues post-reprocessing.Findings and conclusionsOverall, we found 7887 records amongst which 17 original research articles were finally included for qualitative analysis. Overall, 21 different types of decontamination or reprocessing methods for N95-FFRs were evaluated. Most commonly evaluated method for reprocessing of FFRs was Ultraviolet (Type-C) irradiation (UVGI) which was evaluated in 13/17 (76%) studies. We found published literature was scant on this topic despite warning signs of pandemic of a respiratory illness over the years. Promising technologies requiring expeditious evaluation are UVGI, Microwave generated steam (MGS) and based on Hydrogen peroxide vapor. Global presence of technologies, which have been given Emergency use authorisation for N95-FFR reprocessing, is extremely limited. Reprocessing of N95-FFRs by MGS should be considered for emergency implementation in resource limited settings to tackle shortage of N95-FFRs.Systematic review identifierPROSPERO, PROSPERO ID: CRD42020189684, (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020189684).

Dataset Information

N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Basics, Types, and Shortage Solutions.

Publications

N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Basics, Types, and Shortage Solutions.

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