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

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Louis Bernard¹  Laurent Vecellio³  Ludovic Mathé⁴  Antoine Guillon²  Philippe Lanotte²  Jérémie Pourchez⁸  Paul O. Verhoeven⁹  Stéphane Esnouf^1,11  Muriel Ferry^1,11  Nicolas Eterradossi^1,12  Yannick Blanchard^1,12  Guillaume Desoubeaux²  Paul Brown^1,12  Philippe Roingeard²  Jean-Pierre Alcaraz^1,16  Philippe Cinquin^1,17  Mustapha Si-Tahar²  Nathalie Heuzé-Vourc'h²  Elsa Bodier-Montagutelli²  Jeoffrey Pardessus²  Déborah Brea²  Laurine Allimonnier²  Sébastien Eymieux²  Pierre-Ivan Raynal²  Virginie Vasseur² 

[1] Médecine interne et maladies infectieuses, CHU de Tours;Université de Tours;Centre d'étude des pathologies respiratoires (CEPR);Blanchisserie centrale GCS NOT;CHU de Tours et Université de Tours;Bactériologie–Virologie–Hygiène hospitalière;ISP Equipe 5-Bactéries et Risque Materno-fœtale;Université Jean Monnet, Centre CIS;Université Jean Monnet, Université de Lyon;Service des Agents Infectieux et d'Hygiène, CHU de St-Etienne;Université Paris Saclay;French Agency for Food Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses);Parasitologie–mycologie-médecine tropicale, CHU de Tours;Biologie cellulaire–Microscopie électronique, CHU de Tours;UMR Inserm U1259-Morphogénèse et antigénicité du VIH et des virus des hépatites;TIMC-IMAG, UMR5525 Univ. Grenoble Alpes-CNRS;CIC-IT1406 INSERM/CHU Grenoble Alpes/Univ. Grenoble Alpes;Pharmacie à usage intérieure, CHU de Tours

关键词: SARS–CoV-2;    facemask;    recyclibility;    surgical face masks;    COVID-19;    heating;    FFP2/N95;    coronavirus;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2020.584036

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

CC BY