ArticleJournal of occupational and environmental hygiene2016
Respiratory source control using a surgical mask: An in vitro study.
Article in Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic: what is the effectiveness of using personal protective equipment in health service environments?-a systematic review.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2022Pooled it
- Strategies for Preventing Nosocomial Influenza in Acute-Care Hospitals: A Narrative Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- A pilot study of coughing into the shirt to disrupt respiratory pathogen transmission.International journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Perceptions, Knowledge, and Experiences of Using Face Masks among Egyptian Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Constant vs. cyclic flow when testing face masks and respirators as source control devices for simulated respiratory aerosols.Aerosol science and technology : the journal of the American Association for Aerosol Research · 2023Article
- Bioburden Variation of Filtering Face Piece Respirators over Time: A Preliminary Study.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- A critical review on the role of leakages in the facemask protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection with consideration of vaccination and virus variants.Indoor air · 2022Review
- A Cross-Sectional, Questionnaire-Based Survey on Air Infection Control among Romanian People.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Pulmonary function testing during SARS-CoV-2: An ANZSRS/TSANZ position statement.Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) · 2022Review
- Understanding the coevolution of mask wearing and epidemics: A network perspective.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Cloth Face Coverings for Use as Facemasks During the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: What Science and Experience Have Taught Us.Disaster medicine and public health preparedness · 2022Review
- Article
- What We Are Learning from COVID-19 for Respiratory Protection: Contemporary and Emerging Issues.Polymers · 2021Review
- Technical note: Impact of face covering on aerosol transport patterns during coughing and sneezing.Journal of aerosol science · 2021Article
- Respiratory droplets interception in fibrous porous media.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- Review
- A comparison of performance metrics for cloth masks as source control devices for simulated cough and exhalation aerosols.Aerosol science and technology : the journal of the American Association for Aerosol Research · 2021Article
- Effect of COVID-19 on hospital visits in Ningbo, China: an interrupted time-series analysis.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2021Article
- A comparison of performance metrics for cloth face masks as source control devices for simulated cough and exhalation aerosols.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2021Article
- Why does the spread of COVID-19 vary greatly in different countries? Revealing the efficacy of face masks in epidemic prevention.Epidemiology and infection · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedCorrection.2022
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cough etiquette and respiratory hygiene are forms of source control encouraged to prevent the spread of respiratory infection. The use of surgical masks as a means of source control has not been quantified in terms of reducing exposure to others. We designed an in vitro model using various facepieces to assess their contribution to exposure reduction when worn at the infectious source (Source) relative to facepieces worn for primary (Receiver) protection, and the factors that contribute to each. In a chamber with various airflows, radiolabeled aerosols were exhaled via a ventilated soft-face manikin head using tidal breathing and cough (Source). Another manikin, containing a filter, quantified recipient exposure (Receiver). The natural fit surgical mask, fitted (SecureFit) surgical mask and an N95-class filtering facepiece respirator (commonly known as an "N95 respirator") with and without a Vaseline-seal were tested. With cough, source control (mask or respirator on Source) was statistically superior to mask or unsealed respirator protection on the Receiver (Receiver protection) in all environments. To equal source control during coughing, the N95 respirator must be Vaseline-sealed. During tidal breathing, source control was comparable or superior to mask or respirator protection on the Receiver. Source control via surgical masks may be an important adjunct defense against the spread of respiratory infections. The fit of the mask or respirator, in combination with the airflow patterns in a given setting, are significant contributors to source control efficacy. Future clinical trials should include a surgical mask source control arm to assess the contribution of source control in overall protection against airborne infection.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.