The N95 rating meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for protection against tuberculosis and anthrax spores, as well as the most foreseeable bioweaponry, which ranges in size from 1.0 to 5.0 microns. So the N95s are more than capable of preventing their inhalation.
Does anyone know how many microns in size a flu virus is?
I would bet real money that IF the flu hits, ol' pepawbear will be scramblin', as fast as his ol' pepawbear legs will let him, for masks.
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"WHO recommends that well individuals traveling from or to SARS affected areas do not need to wear a mask".
So wearing a mask will not portect a healthy person who is travelling to an infected area.
Wearing a mask or respirator is not a guarantee of protection against SARS.
We have N95 masks available � are these equivalent to FFP3?
No, N95 masks are equivalent to FFP2, not FFP3. FFP3 is the only respirator recommended by the HSE for health care workers in contact with potential SARS cases. However N95 masks give much better protection than surgical masks provided they are correctly fitted, so in a situation where FFP3 respirators are not immediately available they could be used, but strictly as a stop-gap measure, until FFP3 respirators are obtained. Having a supply of N95 masks in your health care facility already should not be viewed as obviating the need to obtain a supply of FFP3 masks for use in connection with SARS.
There you have it. Only a skin-tight fitting respirator will do for virus protection. Tho I am not sure I would feel fully confident in it, if I had to spend a lot of time with infected peoople. As Skepzilla said - stay away from people. That's why we should stock up on food, water, medications and the essentials of living. If it gets that bad, where there is a pandemic, we shall be so glad we made the right preparations.
That's why we should stock up on food, water, medications and the essentials of living. If it gets that bad, where there is a pandemic, we shall be so glad we made the right preparations.
I agree, but in the event I simply must go out among others, healthy or sick, I'm wearin' a mask. And eye goggles, too. Keeping others' droplets and particulates out of my nose, mouth and eyes just makes sense to me.
I just completed a home test... (actually a home test at work..LOL)
I took two of those mask out of the medical box, on the wall.. I put one on and well... passed gass.. and guess what.. the smell got thru the mask? So I borrowed a cigar.. lit it an blew smoke.. thru the mask.. ok. got the other mask, and had someone else blow smoke.. I breathed in deep breaths and went outside to hold mask up to sun light.. it was full of cigar smoke.
So.. tell me.. how is it suppose to keep virus and bacteria out again???? I also wrote on one with a black marker.. put it on and could smell the marker ink..
Conclusion??? I think you'd do better wrappin a bath towel around your face... much cheaper.. LOL
Now.. stop for just a min and think.. if it is airborn.. it gets on our skin.. virus or bacteria.. it will be absorbed into the body. You can get it from other means than just breathin.. Scratches, cuts, zits, pores, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, skin... it will get on our hair.. when we brush it.. it will get on us also.. I've worked in clean rooms.. for several years.. and let me tell you.. wearin a mask to protect you is like wearind contacts in your eyes as a birth control method.
Talk about a bandaid effect.. When you are exposed, skin wise, hair wise, eyes/nose/mouth/ears.... a mask may keep some of the 'stuff' out of your mouth an nose, but.. remember, your skin also breaths...
You need to be protected from within.. inside .. How small is a flu particle? Well.. I've never seen one, never tasted one, never smelled one, so it must be smaller than smoke. And smells.. I could smell perfume, passed gas... and BBQ Chicken.. while wearin a mask..
Yep.. I' goin with my Silver Hydrosol or Sovereign Silver...
Now it is just my opinion .. my reasonin, and my choice.. You do what you think will work.. But honestly Ruby T.. I can't see myself wearin a mask.. besides,, my beard would get into the way.. Can you picture Santa wearin a mask? won't work...
Now I do have that Mask of Bill Clinton that I wore on Holloweene.. oh wait.. never mind....
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Iggey. I too was issued a real.. rubber gas mask with filters.. I too went thru the same chemical warfair chambers you went thru.. Those masks would more than likely keep out any virus/bacteria that would be floatin around...
However.. these people are talkin about toy mask compared to what we were issued..
Not the same.. not even close.. I do so enjoy readin your post.. I think we may have been seperated at birth?
Come to think of it.. I've never seen us in the same room together? Or together in the same picture? Hmmmm.....
And.. we know.. women would never wear the same kind of mask we wore because it would mess up their hair, their makeup and wouldn't go with their shoes. Even though it did go well with my brogans...
"Mask and respirator use is considered to be the very last in a series of activities that may be more effective in reducing the spread of flu," said E. John Gallagher, chairman of emergency medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
What little is known about masks and respiratory infections comes from research on tuberculosis and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), two infections that influenza may not mimic.
Many companies are now stockpiling masks and gloves. The current growth of consumer demand is unknown, however. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has about 1 million masks in a national stockpile, with orders placed for 99 million more. Their delivery date, however, is also unknown.
3M and Kimberly-Clark Corp. are the two largest U.S. producers of medical masks. 3M's plants "have been working 24-7 for some time now," said Jacqueline Berry, a company spokeswoman.
Demand for masks in Asia began to rise in January 2005 and in Europe last summer. Since the start of this year, U.S. customers have been ordering more masks, Berry said. She declined to give estimates of 3M's production capacity or say whether orders were backlogged. A spokeswoman for Kimberly-Clark was not able to provide information on its mask production.
Among the many murky aspects of the subject are the names of the devices. "Surgical masks" or "medical masks" are pleated, soft, clothlike objects that cover the nose and mouth and tie behind the head. They cost about 15 cents apiece.
"N95 filtering facepiece respirators" are fitted to the face by molding a cuplike mask that covers the nose and mouth. Like surgical masks, they are also made out of spun plastic fibers, but fit much more tightly. They do not work well with beards.
N95 respirators, which cost $1 to $3 apiece, are designed to filter out 95 percent of particles that measure about 0.3 micrometers, or thousandths of a meter, in diameter. Influenza viruses range in size from 0.08 to 0.12 micrometers, though they are often clumped together or stuck to other airborne debris.
Bulkier rubber respirators with replaceable filters, priced at $25 and up, are used in some non-health-care settings. They were not evaluated by the committee.
Masks and respirators stop particles three ways. Large particles and droplets can be stopped by the outer surface; smaller particles can be stopped by the mesh; and even smaller particles can be stuck to mask fibers by electrostatic charge.
During an epidemic, surgical masks would be most useful for preventing infected people from coughing virus-laden droplets of saliva and mucus into the environment.
The N95 respirators are the most useful in preventing healthy people from becoming infected by "respiratory aerosols" -- microscopic clumps of material left floating in the air when the water in very small droplets evaporates. How often flu is transmitted by aerosols is unknown, but it does occur.
A study found that in a commercial airplane carrying a person ill with a new strain of seasonal flu in 1979, 72 percent of passengers came down with flu. However, the circumstances were unusual; people were kept on the plane for three hours while a broken ventilation system was repaired.
The Institute of Medicine committee said there were no data suggesting that surgical masks or N95 respirators could be cleaned and reused, and advised against doing so.
In a shortage, however, a person could get more time out of a N95 device by wearing it covered with a surgical mask, the panel found. The surgical mask would be thrown away after a day's use, and the respirator stored in a clean bag for use later. This strategy was used in Asia during the SARS outbreak of 2003.
The gasses we were exposed to in WW2 were Phosgene, Mustard and Chlorine. I know that they were still doing the same thing during the Korean event and some time beyond. On the Jackets, there was no body armor of any kind for as long as I was in the service. The WW2 helmet would not stop small arms fire, but the helmet used in WW1 did much better. We used our WW2 helmets a lot for cooking and shaving--we were required to be clean shaven at all times. The helmets were effective for much of the smaller, lighter shrapnel, however. And we, of course, used them for whatever help they would be. General Patton made damn sure of that.
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"Mask and respirator use is considered to be the very last in a series of activities that may be more effective in reducing the spread of flu," said E. John Gallagher, chairman of emergency medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
In other words if all else fails try wearing a mask.
3M and Kimberly-Clark Corp. are the two largest U.S. producers of medical masks. 3M's plants "have been working 24-7 for some time now," said Jacqueline Berry, a company spokeswoman.
Would seem someone is making money here.
N95 respirators, which cost $1 to $3 apiece, are designed to filter out 95 percent of particles that measure about 0.3 micrometers, or thousandths of a meter, in diameter. Influenza viruses range in size from 0.08 to 0.12 micrometers, though they are often clumped together or stuck to other airborne debris.
This says that the virus can easily get through the mask, but they just have to be careful not to bump their head.
During an epidemic, surgical masks would be most useful for preventing infected people from coughing virus-laden droplets of saliva and mucus into the environment.
You don�t need to wear the mask but rather put one on everyone you think might be infected.
A study found that in a commercial airplane carrying a person ill with a new strain of seasonal flu in 1979, 72 percent of passengers came down with flu. However, the circumstances were unusual; people were kept on the plane for three hours while a broken ventilation system was repaired.
What did we learn here? If we take a bunch of healthy people and seal them up in a tin can with a few sick individuals pretty soon some of the healthy people will become sick. WOW! I wonder how long it took them to figure that out?
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