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Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators

In normal conditions, discarding single-use personal protective equipment after use is the rule for its users due to the possibility of being infected, particularly for masks and filtering facepiece respirators. When the demand for these protective tools is not satisfied by the companies supplying t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Nicolau, Talita, Filho, Núbio Gomes, Zille, Andrea
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7961913/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33807909
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym13050801
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author Nicolau, Talita
Filho, Núbio Gomes
Zille, Andrea
author_facet Nicolau, Talita
Filho, Núbio Gomes
Zille, Andrea
author_sort Nicolau, Talita
collection PubMed
description In normal conditions, discarding single-use personal protective equipment after use is the rule for its users due to the possibility of being infected, particularly for masks and filtering facepiece respirators. When the demand for these protective tools is not satisfied by the companies supplying them, a scenario of shortages occurs, and new strategies must arise. One possible approach regards the disinfection of these pieces of equipment, but there are multiple methods. Analyzing these methods, Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) becomes an exciting option, given its germicidal capability. This paper aims to describe the state-of-the-art for UV-C sterilization in masks and filtering facepiece respirators. To achieve this goal, we adopted a systematic literature review in multiple databases added to a snowball method to make our sample as robust as possible and encompass a more significant number of studies. We found that UV-C’s germicidal capability is just as good as other sterilization methods. Combining this characteristic with other advantages makes UV-C sterilization desirable compared to other methods, despite its possible disadvantages.
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spelling pubmed-79619132021-03-17 Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators Nicolau, Talita Filho, Núbio Gomes Zille, Andrea Polymers (Basel) Review In normal conditions, discarding single-use personal protective equipment after use is the rule for its users due to the possibility of being infected, particularly for masks and filtering facepiece respirators. When the demand for these protective tools is not satisfied by the companies supplying them, a scenario of shortages occurs, and new strategies must arise. One possible approach regards the disinfection of these pieces of equipment, but there are multiple methods. Analyzing these methods, Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) becomes an exciting option, given its germicidal capability. This paper aims to describe the state-of-the-art for UV-C sterilization in masks and filtering facepiece respirators. To achieve this goal, we adopted a systematic literature review in multiple databases added to a snowball method to make our sample as robust as possible and encompass a more significant number of studies. We found that UV-C’s germicidal capability is just as good as other sterilization methods. Combining this characteristic with other advantages makes UV-C sterilization desirable compared to other methods, despite its possible disadvantages. MDPI 2021-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7961913/ /pubmed/33807909 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym13050801 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Nicolau, Talita
Filho, Núbio Gomes
Zille, Andrea
Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators
title Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators
title_full Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators
title_fullStr Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators
title_full_unstemmed Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators
title_short Ultraviolet-C as a Viable Reprocessing Method for Disposable Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators
title_sort ultraviolet-c as a viable reprocessing method for disposable masks and filtering facepiece respirators
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7961913/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33807909
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym13050801
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