| Airborne viral particle protection: N95 masks may only be effective used with eye protection. Surgical masks may not help at all. Looked for interventional studies testing whether face masks and eye protection work in humans to protect against airborne viral particles. A critical issue with many such studies is that medical staff only use masks and/or eye protection at work, opening them to being infected outside of work. Found a small study [1] getting around this problem by exposing subjects (n = 28, avg age 30.5 years) to monodispersed live attenuated influenza vaccine particles by placing them in front of a vibrating-orifice aerosol generator for 20 minutes, subsequently testing for infection using RT-PCR and culture in nasal washes. Surgical mask: 3M 1818 | N95 mask: 3M 1860/1860S | Eye Protection: Z87 Uvex non-vented ----------------------------------------------- RESULTS ----------------------------------------------- No precautions: 4 out of 4 infected. Ocular exposure only: 4 out of 4 infected. Surgical mask only: 5 out of 5 infected. Surgical mask + eye protection: 5 out of 5 infected. N95 mask only: 3 out of 5 infected. N95 mask + eye protection: 1 out of 5 infected. 1. Bischoff WE, Reid T, Russell GB, Peters TR. Transocular entry of seasonal influenza-attenuated virus aerosols and the efficacy of n95 respirators, surgical masks, and eye protection in humans. J Infect Dis. 2011;204(2):193–199. |