AUTHOR=Bernard Louis , Desoubeaux Guillaume , Bodier-Montagutelli Elsa , Pardessus Jeoffrey , Brea Déborah , Allimonnier Laurine , Eymieux Sébastien , Raynal Pierre-Ivan , Vasseur Virginie , Vecellio Laurent , Mathé Ludovic , Guillon Antoine , Lanotte Philippe , Pourchez Jérémie , Verhoeven Paul O. , Esnouf Stéphane , Ferry Muriel , Eterradossi Nicolas , Blanchard Yannick , Brown Paul , Roingeard Philippe , Alcaraz Jean-Pierre , Cinquin Philippe , Si-Tahar Mustapha , Heuzé-Vourc'h Nathalie
TITLE=Controlled Heat and Humidity-Based Treatment for the Reuse of Personal Protective Equipment: A Pragmatic Proof-of-Concept to Address the Mass Shortage of Surgical Masks and N95/FFP2 Respirators and to Prevent the SARS-CoV2 Transmission
JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine
VOLUME=7
YEAR=2020
URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2020.584036
DOI=10.3389/fmed.2020.584036
ISSN=2296-858X
ABSTRACT=Background: The coronavirus infectious disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to an unprecedented shortage of healthcare resources, primarily personal protective equipment like surgical masks, and N95/filtering face piece type 2 (FFP2) respirators.
Objective: Reuse of surgical masks and N95/FFP2 respirators may circumvent the supply chain constraints and thus overcome mass shortage. Methods, design, setting, and measurement: Herein, we tested the effects of dry- and moist-air controlled heating treatment on structure and chemical integrity, decontamination yield, and filtration performance of surgical masks and FFP2 respirators.
Results: We found that treatment in a climate chamber at 70°C during 1 h with 75% humidity rate was adequate for enabling substantial decontamination of both respiratory viruses, oropharyngeal bacteria, and model animal coronaviuses, while maintaining a satisfying filtering capacity.
Limitations: Further studies are now required to confirm the feasibility of the whole process during routine practice.
Conclusion: Our findings provide compelling evidence for the recycling of pre-used surgical masks and N95/FFP2 respirators in case of imminent mass shortfall.