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Occupational Health

Assessment of the Qualitative Fit Test and Quantitative Single-Pass Filtration Efficiency of Disposable N95 Masks Following Gamma Irradiation

Educational Objective
To understand if cobalt-60 gamma irradiation can be used to sterilize N95 masks

1 Credit CME

JAMA Network Open

Published Online: May 26, 2020

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Avilash Cramer, MS¹;

Enze Tian, BS²;

Mitchell Galanek, BS³;

Edward Lamere, PhD³;

Rajiv Gupta, MD, PhD⁴;

Mike Short, PhD³

Author Affiliations

¹Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston, Massachusetts
²Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
³Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
⁴Division of Neuroradiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

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The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has led to a dramatic shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment in hospitals around the globe. One component of personal protective equipment, the disposable N95 face mask, is in particular demand.¹^,2 To alleviate a shortage of N95 masks, many methods to resterilize them have been proposed and studied.³ Any method for resterilizing masks must not degrade the filtration efficiency of the mask.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: April 28, 2020.

Published: May 26, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.9961

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2020 Cramer A et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Avilash Cramer, MS, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 149 13th St, Room 2.406, Charlestown, MA 02129 (avilash@mit.edu).

Author Contributions: Mr Cramer and Dr Short had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Cramer, Gupta, Short.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Cramer, Tian, Galanek, Lamere, Li, Short.

Drafting of the manuscript: Cramer, Galanek, Gupta, Short.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Cramer, Tian, Lamere, Li, Gupta, Short.

Statistical analysis: Cramer, Tian.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Tian, Lamere, Li, Gupta, Short.

Supervision: Li, Gupta, Short.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Additional Contributions: Sherry H. Yu, MD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) assisted with the qualitative fit test. Jinhan Mo, PhD, (Tsinghua University) contributed to the design of the filtration testing apparatus. They were not compensated for their time. The PanFab Consortium and the MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering Department helped connect us with appropriate resources.

References

Feng S , Shen C , Xia N , Song W , Fan M , Cowling BJ . Rational use of face masks in the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Respir Med. Published online March 20, 2020. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30134-X PubMed Google Scholar

Bauchner H , Fontanarosa PB , Livingston EH . Conserving supply of personal protective equipment: a call for ideas. JAMA. Published online March 20, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.4770 PubMed Google Scholar

Viscusi DJ , Bergman MS , Eimer BC , Shaffer RE . Evaluation of five decontamination methods for filtering facepiece respirators. Ann Occup Hyg. 2009;53(8):815-827.PubMed Google Scholar

Feldmann F , Shupert WL , Haddock E , Twardoski B , Feldmann H . Gamma irradiation as an effective method for inactivation of emerging viral pathogens. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2019;100(5):1275-1277. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.18-0937 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Sullivan R , Fassolitis AC , Larkin EP , Read RB Jr , Peeler JT . Inactivation of thirty viruses by gamma radiation. Appl Microbiol. 1971;22(1):61-65. doi:10.1128/AEM.22.1.61-65.1971 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Harrell CR , Djonov V , Fellabaum C , Volarevic V . Risks of using sterilization by gamma radiation: the other side of the coin. Int J Med Sci. 2018;15(3):274-279. doi:10.7150/ijms.22644 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.