Evaluation of the survivability of MS2 viral aerosols deposited on filtering face piece respirator samples incorporating antimicrobial technologies

BACKGROUND: Respiratory protective devices exposed to pathogenic microorganisms present a potential source of transmission of infection during handling. In this study, the efficacy of 4 antimicrobial respirators to decontaminate MS2, a surrogate for pathogenic viruses, was evaluated and compared with control N95 filtering face piece respirators, which did not contain any known antimicrobial components. METHODS: MS2 containing droplet nuclei were generated using a Collison nebulizer and loaded onto respirator coupons at a face velocity of 13.2 cm/seconds for 30 minutes. The coupons were incubated at 2 different temperature and relative humidity (RH) conditions and analyzed for viable MS2 at different time intervals. RESULTS: Results showed that log(10) reduction of MS2 was not statistically significant (P > .05) between the control and antimicrobial respirator coupons, when stored at 22°C and 30% RH up to 20 hours. Coupons from 1 of the 4 antimicrobial respirators showed an average MS2 log(10) reduction of 3.7 at 37°C and 80% RH for 4 hours, which was statistically significant (P ≤ .05) compared with coupons from the control respirators. CONCLUSION: Results from this study suggest that MS2 virus decontamination efficacy of antimicrobial respirators is dependent on the antimicrobial agent and storage conditions.