Millions of people on the planet every year try to protect themselves during the revelry of another respiratory infection. Usually, for this purpose, various means are used that increase immunity, and at the 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 does it protect? You will learn about this by reading this article.
Medical masks
Medical masks sold in pharmacies, strictly speaking, are not masks at all. Why? The mask covers the eyes, nose and mouth. Medical "masks" cover only the nose and mouth.
Gauze dressings are often used in medical institutions to protect against harmful inhalation factors. The original purpose of these dressings is to protect wound surfaces and patients from airborne contact with he althcare workers. For example, during a surgical operation, as well as reducing the release of microorganisms from the air exhaled by patients duringepidemics. It is impossible to consider a gauze bandage as a means of protection either from gases or from air polluted by bacteria.
The ineffectiveness of a medical mask and gauze bandages in protecting against infectious agents has been repeatedly proven. The penetration of air with suspended particles of bacteria through the mask is 34%, and through the gauze bandage - 95%. If the mask does not fit tightly to the face, then the probability of ingress of contaminated air will be 100%.
Recently, products have appeared on sale that are close to respirators in terms of protection. These medical masks are petal-shaped, beak-shaped or cone-shaped with a sewn-in nose fastening, which creates a tighter fit of such a bandage to the face and provides better protection.
Medical respirators
Respirator (from the Latin "respiro" - "I breathe") is a device designed to provide protection against inhalation exposure to microbial, biological and chemical contaminants. Unlike medical masks, respirators fit tightly to the face. This ensures the tightest seal possible.
The design of a medical respirator usually includes:
- Case.
- Strangulator - a flexible plate that allows you to press a medical respirator to the bridge of your nose.
- Headband tape to hold the respirator on the head.
- Exhalation valve (not present in all designs) facilitates exhalation, reduces filter moisture and thus increases the life of the product. A medical respirator with a valve does not purify the exhaled air, thereforecannot be used in rooms where sterility is required. It is used in clinical laboratories where biological excretions are examined, in mortuaries, centers for the prevention of AIDS and infectious diseases.
- Replaceable filter cartridge is used on respirators with a solid fixed housing.
Disposable medical respirators ("Petal") are lightweight filtering half masks, consisting only of a filter body and a strongulator.
Classification of respirators
There are two ways to protect your respiratory system from exposure to polluted air:
- Air purification. For this, filtering respirators are used.
- Supply of clean air or a special breathing mixture with oxygen from a source. For this, insulating respirators are used. Such designs are used in medicine only in some laboratories where they work with especially dangerous pathogens and in the treatment rooms of oncological dispensaries.
Filtering respirators
They are of two types:
- Filter (independent part of the design) + front part.
- Filtering half mask. The filter is directly an integral part of the respirator.
Respirators come in:
- Anti-aerosol - protect against aerosols and dust.
- Gas masks - protect against gases and vapours.
- Anti-gas and aerosol (combined) - protect against gases,vapors and aerosols.
Anti-aerosol filters according to their filtering efficiency are:
- low efficiency (P1),
- medium (P2),
- high (P3).
The respirators themselves are respectively: low efficiency (FFP1), medium (FFP2) and high (FFP3).
Choose a medical respirator depending on the composition of the polluted air.
Protivogazoaerosol products are chosen when working with reagents in laboratories, with cadaveric material, formaldehyde, organic gases, with disinfectants.
What is an aerosol?
Aerosol is a system consisting of liquid particles suspended in the air. Medical professionals deal with biological and chemical systems. The second includes aerosols of medicinal substances used, for example, in the treatment of patients with respiratory pathologies or burns (Bioparox, Geksoral and others), as well as aerosols of disinfectants.
Biological aerosols are a system consisting of air and suspended liquid droplets containing pathogenic microflora or viruses. Such aerosols are formed during breathing, talking, coughing or sneezing of patients with airborne infections. It has been established that when sneezing with an open mouth, from 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, when talking 0.5-0.8 thousand particles for every 10 words. Moreover, when talking, the smallest particles are formed. The time depends on the size of the particle.their persistence in the air and the depth of their penetration. When coughing, the largest are formed. They disperse only 2-3 meters and settle in a few seconds.
Particulate respirators
Use anti-aerosol medical respirators in contact with patients, used hospital linen, biological materials, biological cultures, some drugs, including antibiotics, narcotic analgesics, anticancer drugs, cytostatics.
Thus, in medicine, to protect against viruses and bacteria entering the respiratory tract, aerosol respirators with an average (FFP2) or high (FFP3) degree of protection are used. Therefore, if there is a desire or need to protect yourself from influenza viruses or other pathogens of respiratory diseases, you can purchase any model with FFP2 or FFP3 protection. They are not sold in pharmacies, but can be found in clothing and personal protective equipment stores at fairly affordable prices.
