Department of Personal Protective Equipment, Central Institute for Labour Protection-National Research Institute, Wierzbowa 48, Łódź 90-133, Poland.
Faculty Biotechnology and Food Science, Institute of Fermentation Technology and Microbiology, Lodz University of Technology, Wólczańska 171/173, Łódź 90-924, Poland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Sep 1;15(9):1902. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15091902.
This work aims at understanding the effects of various dust-loading conditions and the type of nonwovens used in the construction of FFRs on the safe use of those protective devices in situations of exposure to biological agents. The survival of microorganisms (, , and ) in dust-loaded polypropylene nonwovens (melt-blown, spun-bonded, and needle-punched) was experimentally determined using microbiological quantitative method (AATCC TM 100-2004). Scanning electron microscope was used to assess biofilm formation on dust-loaded filtering nonwovens. The impact of the growth of microorganisms on filtration efficiency of nonwovens was analysed based on the measurements of penetration of sodium chloride particles (size range 7⁻270 nm). Results showed that tested microorganisms were able to survive on dust-loaded polypropylene filtering nonwovens. The survival rate of microorganisms and penetration of nanoparticles and submicron particles depended on the type of microorganism, as well as the type and the amount of dust, which indicates that both of those factors should be considered for FFR use recommendations.
本工作旨在研究不同粉尘负载条件以及过滤元件中使用的无纺材料类型对这些防护设备在暴露于生物制剂时安全使用的影响。采用微生物定量方法（AATCC TM 100-2004），通过实验确定了负载粉尘的聚丙烯无纺材料（熔喷、纺粘和针刺）中微生物（、、和）的存活情况。使用扫描电子显微镜评估了负载粉尘的过滤无纺材料上生物膜的形成。基于氯化钠颗粒（尺寸范围 7-270nm）穿透率的测量，分析了微生物生长对无纺材料过滤效率的影响。结果表明，测试的微生物能够在负载粉尘的聚丙烯过滤无纺材料上存活。微生物的存活率和纳米颗粒及亚微米颗粒的穿透率取决于微生物的类型以及粉尘的类型和数量，这表明在提出 FFR 使用建议时应同时考虑这两个因素。
