ArticlePloS one2022
Dry heat sterilization as a method to recycle N95 respirator masks: The importance of fit.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- From Bench to Breath: Material Integrity and Performance of Filtering Facepiece Respirators and Surgical Masks After Multi-Cycle Dry-Heat Reprocessing.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Material flow analysis-based assessment of polypropylene-fiber-containing microplastics released from disposable masks: Characterizing distribution in the environmental media.The Science of the total environment · 2023Article
- Post-Pandemic: Investigation of the Degradation of Various Commercial Masks in the Marine Environment.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2023Article
- Article
- Modifying NIOSH's Manikin Fit Evaluation Method to Match Fit Testing with Human Subjects.Journal of the International Society for Respiratory Protection · 2023Article
- A Sensor-Integrated Face Mask Using Au@SnOACS omega · 2022Article
- Brief Cost Analysis of Surgical Personal Protective Equipment During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research · 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
16 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In times of crisis, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain of filtering facepiece respirators, such as N95 respirators, are disrupted. To combat shortages of N95 respirators, many institutions were forced to decontaminate and reuse respirators. While several reports have evaluated the impact on filtration as a measurement of preservation of respirator function after decontamination, the equally important fact of maintaining proper fit to the users' face has been understudied. In the current study, we demonstrate the complete inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 and preservation of fit test performance of N95 respirators following treatment with dry heat. We apply scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements to analyze filter material changes as a consequence of different decontamination treatments. We further compared the integrity of the respirator after autoclaving versus dry heat treatment via quantitative fit testing and found that autoclaving, but not dry heat, causes the fit of the respirator onto the users face to fail, thereby rendering the decontaminated respirator unusable. Our findings highlight the importance to account for both efficacy of disinfection and mask fit when reprocessing respirators to for clinical redeployment.
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.