Open AccessSterilization of N95 respirators: The time for action is upon us!
Author(s) -
Arjun Prakash,
Harshavardhan B. Rao,
Priya Nair,
Surabhi Talwar,
Vivek Kumar,
Deepak Talwar
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
lung india
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.457
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 0974-598X
pISSN - 0970-2113
DOI - 10.4103/lungindia.lungindia_191_20
Subject(s) - respirator , sterilization (economics) , medicine , economic shortage , covid-19 , medical emergency , intensive care medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , business , composite material , materials science , linguistics , philosophy , disease , finance , government (linguistics) , exchange rate , foreign exchange market
Re-processing of primary protective equipment is the need of the hour with healthcare systems all over the world strained due to the shortage precipitated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The common methods of re-sterilization do not hold well for filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) as they affect their structure and function. We propose the validation and eventual use of gamma irradiation, an already existing method of re-sterilization, to disinfect FFRs in bulk.