Department of Medicine, Austin Hospital, Victoria, 3084, Australia.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
Infect Dis Health. 2021 May;26(2):104-109. doi: 10.1016/j.idh.2020.11.001. Epub 2020 Nov 19.
Due to regional shortages some health services have proposed using surgical masks manufactured from sterilisation wrap. However, there has been little assessment of the safety of this practice. Therefore, we developed our own prototypes and evaluated whether they met regulatory standards.
Surgical mask prototypes were manufactured from two thickness grades of commercial sterilisation wrap. Safety was assessed in the context of regulatory standards. As it was not previously reported, we developed and performed differential pressure and synthetic blood penetration resistance experiments in accordance with official methodology.
Bacterial filtration efficiency was comparable between sterilisation wrap and commercial surgical masks. Both prototypes met regulatory standards for synthetic blood resistance, whilst only our thinner mask fulfilled acceptable differential pressure ('breathability') thresholds.
Acceptable barrier and breathability properties can be achieved with surgical masks produced from sterilisation wrap. Therefore, this may be a reasonable method to supplement stock if required. Unless there are shortages mandating alternatives, health-care workers should always use approved personal protective equipment.
由于区域短缺，一些卫生服务机构提出使用由消毒包裹制成的外科口罩。然而，对此做法的安全性评估很少。因此，我们开发了自己的原型，并评估它们是否符合监管标准。
我们使用两种厚度等级的商业消毒包裹来制造外科口罩原型。在符合监管标准的情况下评估安全性。由于此前没有报道过，我们根据官方方法开发并进行了压差和合成血液穿透阻力实验。
消毒包裹和商业外科口罩的细菌过滤效率相当。两种原型都符合合成血液阻力的监管标准，而只有我们较薄的口罩满足可接受的压差（“透气性”）阈值。
使用消毒包裹制成的外科口罩可以达到可接受的阻隔和透气性性能。因此，如果需要，这可能是一种合理的补充库存的方法。除非短缺需要替代方法，否则医护人员应始终使用经过批准的个人防护设备。
