Millions of people on the planet every year try to protect themselves during the revelation of another respiratory infection. Usually, various means that increase immunity are used for this purpose, and at the very peak of the incidence, people begin to buy medical masks. This is the only respiratory protection that can be found in a regular pharmacy in our country. Do masks protect against viruses and bacteria? If not, what protects? You will learn about this by reading this article.
Medical masks
Strictly speaking, medical masks sold in pharmacies are not masks at all. Why? The mask closes the eyes, nose and mouth. Medical “masks” cover only the nose and mouth.
Often in medical institutions in order to protect themselves from harmful inhalation factors, gauze dressings are used. The initial purpose of these dressings is to protect wound surfaces and patients from air contact with medical personnel. For example, during a surgical operation, as well as reducing the release of microorganisms with exhaled sick air during epidemics. It is impossible to consider a gauze dressing as a means of protection neither from gases, nor from air polluted by bacteria.
The inefficiency of the medical mask and gauze dressings in protecting against infectious agents has been repeatedly proven. The penetration of air with suspended bacteria particles through the mask is 34%, and through a gauze dressing - 95%. If the mask does not fit tightly to the face, then the probability of penetration of contaminated air will be 100%.
Recently, products have appeared on sale that are closer to respirators in terms of protection. These are medical masks of a petal, beak-shaped or conical shape with a sewn-in nose fastener, which creates a tighter fit of such a bandage to the face and provides better protection.
Medical respirators
Respirator (from lat. "Respiro" - "breathing") - a device designed to provide protection against inhalation exposure to microbial, biological and chemical contaminants. Unlike medical masks, respirators fit snugly on the face. This ensures the highest possible tightness.
The design of a medical respirator usually includes:
- Body.
- Strangulator - a flexible plate that allows you to press the medical respirator to the nose.
- Headband tape to hold the respirator on the head.
- The exhalation valve (not present in all designs) facilitates exhalation, reduces filter humidification and, thus, increases the life of the product. A medical respirator with a valve does not purify exhaled air, therefore it cannot be used in rooms where sterility is required. It is used in clinical laboratories where biological excreta are studied, in morgues, centers for the prevention of AIDS and infectious diseases.
- The replaceable filter cartridge is used for respirators with a solid stationary case.
Disposable medical respirators ("Petal") are lightweight filtering half masks, consisting only of a filter housing and a stiffener.
Respiratory classification
There are two ways to protect your respiratory system from exposure to polluted air:
- Air purification. To do this, use filter respirators.
- By supplying clean air or a special breathing mixture with oxygen from the source. To do this, use insulating respirators. Such constructions are used in medicine only in some laboratories where they work with especially dangerous pathogens and in the treatment rooms of oncological dispensaries.
Filter respirators
They are of two types:
- Filter (independent part of the structure) + front part.
- Filter half mask. The filter is directly part of the respirator.
Respirators are:
- Anti-aerosol - protect against aerosols and dust.
- Gas masks - protect against gases and vapors.
- Gas and aerosol (combined) - protect against gases, vapors and aerosols.
Aerosol filters in their filtering efficiency are:
- low efficiency (P1),
- medium (P2)
- high (P3).
Respirators themselves, respectively, are: with low efficiency (FFP1), medium (FFP2) and high (FFP3).
A medical respirator is selected depending on the composition of the contaminated air.
Gas and aerosol products are chosen when working with reagents in laboratories, with cadaveric material, formaldehyde, organic gases, and disinfectants.
What is an aerosol?
Aerosol - a system consisting of liquid particles suspended in air. Health professionals deal with biological and chemical systems. The second group includes aerosols of medicinal substances used, for example, in the treatment of patients with pathologies of the respiratory tract or burns (Bioparox, Hexoral, and others), as well as aerosols of disinfectants.
Biological aerosols are a system consisting of air and suspended droplets of a liquid containing pathogenic microflora or viruses. Such aerosols are formed by breathing, talking, coughing or sneezing in patients with airborne infections. It has been established that when sneezing with an open mouth, 100 to 800 thousand particles of biological aerosol are formed and released into the air, when sneezing with a closed mouth - 10-15 thousand, when coughing - 1-3 thousand, during a conversation 0.5-0.8 thousand particles for every 10 words. And during the conversation the smallest particles are formed. The time of their conservation in air and the depth of their penetration depend on the size of the particles. When coughing, the largest are formed. They dissipate only 2-3 meters and settle in a few seconds.
Aerosol Respirators
Anti-aerosol medical respirators are used in contact with patients, used hospital linen, biological materials, biological cultures, certain medications, including antibiotics, narcotic analgesics, antitumor drugs, and cytostatics.
Thus, in medicine, antiaerosol respirators with an average (FFP2) or high (FFP3) degree of protection are used to protect against viruses and bacteria from entering the respiratory tract. Therefore, if you want or need to protect yourself from influenza viruses or other pathogens of respiratory diseases, you can purchase any model with the protection of FFP2 or FFP3. They are not sold in pharmacies, but can be found in workwear and personal protective equipment stores at fairly affordable prices.