Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35908823›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of infection control2022

Methylene blue applied to N95 respirators and medical masks for SARS-CoV-2 decontamination: What is the likelihood of inhaling methylene blue?

Thomas S Lendvay, Jinwei Xu, James Chen, Tanner Clark, Yi Cui

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of infection control, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. aPDI meets PPE: photochemical decontamination in healthcare using methylene blue-where are we now, where will we go?Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2024
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Thomas S LendvayDepartment of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA. Electronic address: thomas.lendvay@seattlechildrens.org.
Jinwei XuDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
James ChenDepartment of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Tanner ClarkDepartment of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Yi CuiDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA.
University of Washington · USSeattle Children's Hospital · USSLAC National Accelerator Laboratory · USStanford University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGlobal shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), as consequence of the COVID-19 global pandemic, has unmasked significant resource inequities prompting efforts to develop methods for safe PPE decontamination for reuse. The World Health Organization (WHO) in their Rational Use of PPE bulletin cited the use of a photodynamic dye, methylene blue, and light exposure as a viable option for N95 respirator decontamination. Because WHO noted that methylene blue (MB) would be applied to surfaces through which health care workers breathe, we hypothesized that little to no MB will be detectable by spectroscopy when the PPE is subjected to MB at supraphysiologic airflow rates.

methodsA panel of N95 respirators, medical masks, and cloth masks were sprayed with 5 cycles of 1,000 uM MB solution. Mask coupons were subjected to the equivalent of 120 L/min of 100% humidified air flow. Effluent gas was trapped in an aqueous solution and the resultant fluid was sampled for MB absorbance with a level of detection of 0.004 mg/m3.

resultsNo detectable MB was identified for any mask using Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy.

conclusionsAt 500-fold the amount of MB applied to N95 respirators and medical masks as were used for the decontamination study cited in the WHO Rational Use of PPE bulletin, no detectable MB was observed, thus providing safety evidence for the use of methylene blue and light exposure for mask decontamination.

Indexed as

COVID-19SARS-CoV-2DecontaminationEquipment ReuseHumansMethylene BlueN95 RespiratorsMethylene BlueCoronavirusCOVID-19Global healthPersonal protective equipment (PPE)Photodynamic therapySinglet oxygen

Identifiers

PMID35908823
PMCPMC9436551
OpenAlexW4288074188

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.