Department of Equipment, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Sichuan Testing Center of Medical Devices, Chengdu, China.
PLoS One. 2020 Oct 15;15(10):e0240285. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240285. eCollection 2020.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has swept the whole world with high mortality. Since droplet transmission is the main route of transmission, wearing a mask serves as a crucial preventive measure. However, the virus has spread quite quickly, causing severe mask shortage. Finding alternative materials for homemade masks while ensuring the significant performance indicators will help alleviate the shortage of masks. Referring to the national standard for the "Surgical Mask" of China, 17 materials to be selected for homemade masks were tested in four key indicators: pressure difference, particle filtration efficiency, bacterial filtration efficiency and resistance to surface wetting. Eleven single-layer materials met the standard of pressure difference (≤49 Pa), of which 3 met the standard of resistance to surface wetting (≥3), 1 met the standard of particle filtration efficiency (≥30%), but none met the standard of bacterial filtration efficiency (≥95%). Based on the testing results of single-layer materials, fifteen combinations of paired materials were tested. The results showed that three double-layer materials including double-layer medical non-woven fabric, medical non-woven fabric plus non-woven shopping bag, and medical non-woven fabric plus granular tea towel could meet all the standards of pressure difference, particle filtration efficiency, and resistance to surface wetting, and were close to the standard of the bacterial filtration efficiency. In conclusion, if resources are severely lacking and medical masks cannot be obtained, homemade masks using available materials, based on the results of this study, can minimize the chance of infection to the maximum extent.
新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）具有高死亡率，已席卷全球。由于飞沫传播是主要的传播途径，因此佩戴口罩是一项重要的预防措施。然而，病毒传播速度相当快，导致严重的口罩短缺。寻找替代材料来制作自制口罩，同时确保重要的性能指标，将有助于缓解口罩短缺的问题。参考中国的《医用口罩》国家标准，对 17 种待选自制口罩材料在四个关键指标：压差、颗粒过滤效率、细菌过滤效率和抗湿性进行了测试。有 11 种单层材料符合压差标准（≤49 Pa），其中 3 种符合抗湿性标准（≥3），1 种符合颗粒过滤效率标准（≥30%），但没有一种符合细菌过滤效率标准（≥95%）。基于单层材料的测试结果，测试了 15 种配对材料的组合。结果表明，包括双层医用无纺布、医用无纺布加无纺购物袋和医用无纺布加颗粒茶巾在内的三种双层材料均符合压差、颗粒过滤效率和抗湿性的所有标准，且接近细菌过滤效率标准。总之，如果资源严重短缺，无法获得医用口罩，根据本研究的结果，使用现有材料制作自制口罩可以最大限度地减少感染的机会。
