Controlled Heat and Humidity-Based Treatment for the Reuse of Personal Protective Equipment: A Pragmatic Proof-of-Concept to Address the Mass Shortage of Surgical Masks and N95/FFP2 Respirators and to Prevent the SARS-CoV2 Transmission
oleh: Louis Bernard, Louis Bernard, Guillaume Desoubeaux, Guillaume Desoubeaux, Guillaume Desoubeaux, Elsa Bodier-Montagutelli, Elsa Bodier-Montagutelli, Elsa Bodier-Montagutelli, Jeoffrey Pardessus, Jeoffrey Pardessus, Déborah Brea, Déborah Brea, Laurine Allimonnier, Laurine Allimonnier, Sébastien Eymieux, Sébastien Eymieux, Sébastien Eymieux, Pierre-Ivan Raynal, Pierre-Ivan Raynal, Virginie Vasseur, Virginie Vasseur, Laurent Vecellio, Laurent Vecellio, Ludovic Mathé, Antoine Guillon, Antoine Guillon, Antoine Guillon, Philippe Lanotte, Philippe Lanotte, Philippe Lanotte, Jérémie Pourchez, Paul O. Verhoeven, Paul O. Verhoeven, Stéphane Esnouf, Muriel Ferry, Nicolas Eterradossi, Yannick Blanchard, Paul Brown, Philippe Roingeard, Philippe Roingeard, Philippe Roingeard, Jean-Pierre Alcaraz, Philippe Cinquin, Philippe Cinquin, Mustapha Si-Tahar, Mustapha Si-Tahar, Nathalie Heuzé-Vourc'h, Nathalie Heuzé-Vourc'h
| Format: | Article |
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| Diterbitkan: | Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-10-01 |
Deskripsi
Background: The coronavirus infectious disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to an unprecedented shortage of healthcare resources, primarily personal protective equipment like surgical masks, and N95/filtering face piece type 2 (FFP2) respirators.Objective: Reuse of surgical masks and N95/FFP2 respirators may circumvent the supply chain constraints and thus overcome mass shortage. Methods, design, setting, and measurement: Herein, we tested the effects of dry- and moist-air controlled heating treatment on structure and chemical integrity, decontamination yield, and filtration performance of surgical masks and FFP2 respirators.Results: We found that treatment in a climate chamber at 70°C during 1 h with 75% humidity rate was adequate for enabling substantial decontamination of both respiratory viruses, oropharyngeal bacteria, and model animal coronaviuses, while maintaining a satisfying filtering capacity.Limitations: Further studies are now required to confirm the feasibility of the whole process during routine practice.Conclusion: Our findings provide compelling evidence for the recycling of pre-used surgical masks and N95/FFP2 respirators in case of imminent mass shortfall.