Respirator Masks Best for Swine Flu Health Workers

Sept. 4 -- THURSDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Because people can catch the new H1N1 swine flu by inhaling the virus, health-care workers who deal with flu patients should wear properly fitted N95 disposable respirator masks, a new report from the Institute of Medicine advises.

These masks are not the same as loosely fitted surgical masks. N95 respirators fit tightly around the mouth and nose and have filters that can block about 95 percent of the flu virus, according to the report released Thursday.

"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for protection of health-care workers during an H1N1 outbreak have been that those in close contact with people who have H1N1 flu should wear N95 respirators," said Dr. Kenneth I. Shine, chair of the Committee on Respiratory Protection for Healthcare Workers in the Workplace Against Novel H1N1 Influenza A.

The Institute evaluated the effectiveness of N95 respirators and medical masks in protecting wearers from the H1N1 flu at the request of the CDC and other government agencies.

"We saw a fair amount of evidence that suggests that this virus can be transmitted through the air," said Shine, who is also executive vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Texas. "How much of transmission is due to that is still an unproven issue and needs a lot of research."

Shine noted that the virus is also transmitted by person-to-person contact and by contact with surfaces that have been exposed to the virus. Hence, the advice to wash hands often.

Tests showed that the protection provided by N95 masks was eight to 12 times greater than that offered by surgical masks, the report said.

In addition, tests of surgical masks show wide variations in protection. They can filter from 4 percent to as much as 90 percent of the virus, but there is no way of controlling leakage around the edges of the mask, Shine said.

"Surgical masks were not designed to protect people from airborne infection, and they are not likely to be effective, whereas N95 respirators have a much better ability to protect health-care workers," he said.