Due to the continuing shortage of N95 masks across the United States, medical institutions are struggling to find ways to clean and dispose of masks for reuse and to protect front-line medical personnel who may eventually be infected with the new coronavirus.
In response, Duke University believes they have found a way to purify masks using evaporated hydrogen peroxide.
This process requires specialized equipment to evaporate the hydrogen peroxide and then injects all layers of the mask to kill bacteria, including viruses.
"This is a decontamination technique and method that we have used in biological containment laboratories for many years," said Scott Alderman, deputy director of the biological containment laboratory at Duke, in a statement.
Matthew Stiegel, director of Duke's Office of Occupational and Environmental Safety, said the university has demonstrated the effectiveness of the technology and will begin using it in all three hospitals.
Ideally, hospitals can use brand new masks without the need to sterilize the masks, but this is clearly not the ideal time.
It is reported that the hydrogen peroxide purification N95 mask method used by the Duke University team is based on research published in 2016.
Associate professor of medicine and infectious disease expert Dr. Cameron Wolfe pointed out that in the case of a severe shortage of N95 masks, re-use of these key N95 masks will improve the hospital's ability to protect the frontline medical staff from the disease.
Monte Brown, MD, deputy president of the Duke University Health System, said that Duke's research team is working to promote the technology for widespread use.
He said that some health systems and many pharmaceutical companies already have the equipment they need. These devices are currently being used in different ways, and they may increase their operations and help local hospitals.
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