SynthesisInfection control and hospital epidemiology2021
Decontamination and reuse of surgical masks and N95 filtering facepiece respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Conservation Practices for Personal Protective Equipment: A Systematic Review with Focus on Lower-Income Countries.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Stable Solid Peracetic Acid Precursor for Effective Decontamination and Reuse of Personal Protective Equipment.ACS omega · 2026Article
- Strengthening patient safety through biosafety and infection prevention measures during COVID-19: a policy and practice review.Frontiers in health services · 2026Review
- Exploring factors affecting the unsafe behavior of health care workers' in using respiratory masks during COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Emissions from Hydrogen Peroxide Disinfection and Their Interaction with Mask Surfaces.ACS engineering Au · 2024Article
- Design optimization and validation of UV-C illumination chamber for filtering facepiece respirators.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Is the whole-day use of surgical masks during the coronavirus pandemic increasing the contamination of surgeons' masks?American journal of infection control · 2023Article
- Single Printing Step Prussian Blue Bulk-Modified Transducers for Oxidase-Based Biosensors.Biosensors · 2023Article
- A review of disposable facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic: A focus on microplastics release.Chemosphere · 2023Review
- Article
- Rapid review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2022Review
- Lessons from COVID-19 for future disasters: an opinion paper.Revista espanola de quimioterapia : publicacion oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Quimioterapia · 2022Review
- Generalized Kubelka's theory for light transmission in multilayer materials and its application for UV light penetration in filtering facepiece respirators.Journal of biophotonics · 2022Article
- Dry Heat as a Potential Decontamination Method on the Filtration Efficiency of Filtering Facepiece Respirators.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- COVID-19 and laryngological surgery.Operative techniques in otolaryngology--head and neck surgery · 2022Article
- Knowledge Level on Infection Control among Romanian Undergraduate and Postgraduate Dental Students.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Article
- Large-scale decontamination of disposable FFP2 and FFP3 respirators by hydrogen peroxide vapour, Finland, April to June 2020.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2022Article
- Ultraviolet-C Irradiation, Heat, and Storage as Potential Methods of Inactivating SARS-CoV-2 and Bacterial Pathogens on Filtering Facepiece Respirators.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination of N95 respirators for reuse.Infection control and hospital epidemiology · 2022Article
- Environmental assessment and eco-design of a surgical face mask.Procedia CIRP · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesSurgical masks and N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and protect medical personnel. Increased demands for surgical masks and N95 FFRs during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in the shortage crisis. However, there is no standard protocol for safe reuse of the N95 FFRs. In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of existing decontamination methods of surgical masks and N95 FFRs and provide evidence-based recommendations for selecting an appropriate decontamination method.
methodsWe performed systematic searches of Ovid MEDLINE and Ovid EMBASE electronic databases. The last search was performed April 11, 2020. Any trials studying surgical masks and/or N95 FFRs decontamination were included. Outcomes were disinfections of virus and bacteria, restoration of the filtration efficiency, and maintenance of the physical structure of the mask.
resultsOverall, 15 studies and 14 decontamination methods were identified. A low level of evidence supported 4 decontamination methods: ultraviolet (UV) germicidal irradiation (9 studies), moist heat (5 studies), microwave-generated steam (4 studies), and hydrogen peroxide vapor (4 studies). Therefore, we recommended these 4 methods, and we recommended against use were given for the other 10 methods.
conclusionsA low level of evidence supported the use of UV germicidal irradiation, moist heat, microwave-generated steam, and hydrogen peroxide vapor for decontamination and reuse of N95 FFRs. These decontamination methods were effective for viral and bacterial disinfection as well as restoration of the filtration efficiency, and the physical structure of the FFRs.
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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.