The National Academies Press has a free download “Reusability of Facemasks During an Influenza Pandemic: Facing the Flu (2006)“. Unfortunately they see a huge need for more research in the area, so the advice tends to be a bit of a guess.
Infection Control
Swine flu in Austrailia in 2009 appears to heading for a worse winter than the US, but the approaches by the Australian public health authorities are confused.
Flu trends and over-reaction
Much could be learned about the spread of Swine Flu from the spread of the disease on the Pacific Dawn, which recently berthed in Sydney. For some reason the public health officials let passengers leave the ship and fly all over Australia. To me it would have been prudent to […]
Influenza, Cruise Ships and Air-conditioning
A recent paper MacIntyre, C. R., S. Cauchemez, et al. (2009). “Face Mask Use and Control of Respiratory Virus Transmission in Households.” Emerging Infectious Diseases 15(2): 233-241. is available from the CDC as free download Unfortunately, despite the warning
Surgical masks vs P2 (N95) respirators #2
There is not yet any direct data on the survivability of the Influenza A H1N1 swine flu virus on different surfaces, but there is data for the survival of the Influenza A virus on various surfaces. Weber and Stilianakis (2008) published some data (22°C, 50-60% RH):
Survival of Influenza A on surfaces
Even though the WHO has renamed Swine Flu “Influenza A H1N1“, I suspect the popular name will remain Swine Flu. The National Academies Press have a number of books that can be downloaded for free as PDF files (you need to sign in with your email address) that are useful, […]
Swine Flu books
I was called by the ABC National Radio program “AM” at 6:30 this morning to be interviewed about the use of face masks for protection against swine flu. The interview formed part of a story “Rush for surgical masks at Sydney airport” on the ABC website.
Swine flu and surgical masks
Its hard not not notice the wrong selection of face masks – occupational hygienists like to use the term respiratory protection equipment” or RPE. Journalists like to use the term face masks to cover anything from a surgical mask to a toxic dust respirator. The lady is the picture is […]
Swine Flu – more face masks
The CDC has issued good information on the swine flu outbreak, but the media is unaware that pictures of people wearing masks have the wrong mask and the fit is also poor. Little protection is given to the wearer. Few healthcare people would be aware of this shortcoming.