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Do N-95 SURGICAL MASKS Stop H1N1 / SWINE FLU? Is H1N1 Flu Shot Any Better Than Basic Flu Shot, Which Is At Best An Educated Guess? If You Wear A Mask When They Hang You, Will Your Neck NOT Break!
Do N-95 SURGICAL
MASKS Stop H1N1
/ SWINE FLU?
Is H1N1 Flu Shot
Any Better Than
Basic Flu Shot,
Which Is At Best An
Educated Guess?
If You Wear A Mask
When They Hang
You, Will Your Neck
NOT Break!
Tabacco: N-95 Surgical masks claims to filter .3-micron sized particles. How does that compare to 80-nanometer width of N1H1? You need to be a mathematician to know the conversion. I am, and I still don’t know!
OK, I found a Conversion Chart! Guess what! Those N-95 masks only filter particles larger than 300-nanometers - H1N1 is between 80- and 120-nanometers in width. Therefore, most will get through to the mask wearer and from the mask wearer to all those people around the wearer! Either way it is pointless and practically useless. However, if the mask wearer and those around the wearer do not read this Post, they will certainly feel more secure!
If it’s very dark and you jump off that diving board and cannot see the pool contains no water, you feel secure the whole time until you hit the concrete!
Are Painters’ masks better? No! They have exactly the same .3micron tolerance as Surgical masks!
http://www.slate.com/id/2217045/
Do Surgical Masks Stop Swine Flu?
Probably not.
By Jon Cohen
Posted Monday, April 27, 2009, at 3:15 PM ET
As the swine flu outbreak deepens, panicked citizens of North America are donning face masks. In Mexico City's downtown square, the Zócalo, for example, the army handed out face masks, and customs officials on U.S. borders are wearing protective personal gear, such as gloves and masks. (Click here for images.) But do surgical masks offer effective protection against viruses? In 2003, Jon Cohen wrote that the SARS virus, which is just 100 nanometers in size, can easily pass through such barriers. And there's every reason to believe that swine flu, at 80 to 120 nanometers, can, too. The original article is reprinted below.
The dramatic photos of surgical-masked people walking the streets of Asian cities hit by severe acute respiratory syndrome pose the question: Do the masks offer them any meaningful protection against the disease?
Viruses, including the coronavirus that scientists believe may be the cause of SARS, are so tiny that they can easily pass through such barriers. Several studies even have shown that surgical masks fail to prevent transmission of the much larger mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that people who have SARS wear these masks, they do not even recommend them for people in contact with those patients unless the infected person can't wear one. Wearing surgical masks outdoors, where virus-laden particles easily disperse, has even less value.
CDC does advise health-care workers working with SARS patients to wear a special mask called an N-95 respirator. But even these masks offer limited protection from coronaviruses. The name of the mask says it all. The "95" means the mask, if properly fitted—and that "fit factor" presents a big if—can filter out particles down to .3 microns 95 percent of the time. (A human hair is roughly 100 microns in diameter.) Human coronaviruses measure between .1 and .2 microns, which is one to two times below the cutoff.
The University of Cincinnati's Sergey Grinshpun has studied N-95 respirators and says it all comes down to "collection efficiency." N-95s made by different manufacturers have different collection efficiencies below the .3 cutoff. In other words, one company's mask, if properly fitted, might filter out 92 percent of coronaviruses, while another might catch only 50 percent.
"It seems to offer better protection than nothing," Grinshpun says. And he notes that viruses often travel on top of larger carrier molecules—like globs of mucus—making it easier to filter them. That's why CDC Director Julie Gerberding last week noted that covering your face with a T-shirt might help if you come in close contact with an infected person.
To efficiently protect yourself from coronaviruses, you would need to wear a full-faced mask with a high-efficiency particle air filter. But such HEPA filter masks cause what Grinshpun calls "quite a discomfort" in short order.
Any mask clearly wards off one bug: fear. Confoundingly, the sight of so many people wearing masks also spreads fear. And there's no measure of collection efficiency or fit factors that can help humans out of that pickle.
Explainer thanks Sergey Grinshpun, Julie Gerberding, and Web sites at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the International Society for Respiratory Projection (Americas section).
AP video: President Obama addresses the swine flu outbreak
Jon Cohen writes for Science magazine. You can reach him at joncohen45@hotmail.com.
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2217045/
Tabacco does see another usage for N-95s! If these things catch on, I predict an increase in armed robberies, particularly banks!
http://www.naturalnews.com/026204_swine_flu_health_the_flu.html
N-95 Masks Do Protect from Swine Flu but
They Will Not Protect You
(NaturalNews) N-95 respirator masks are the newest hot selling item for "flu preparedness", but do they work? Yes. And No. N-95 respirator masks were designed to protect healthcare workers from `airborne` illnesses such as tuberculosis, chicken pox and the flu. They DO work under tightly controlled circumstances, but the general public is not likely to be in those tightly controlled circumstances, so they will likely not benefit from them.
Face masks were first used during the 1918 flu epidemic as `protection` against the flu. It likely did not do any good, but laws were enacted and people who didn`t wear them were considered "mask slackers" who could be fined, imprisoned or simply ostracized. With the swine flu claiming more and more victims in the US, people are beginning to react by wearing masks again. But this time, the higher technology N-95 Respirator Mask is all the rage.
The N-95 is NOT your grandfather`s surgical mask or even the same as surgical masks worn by doctors and nurses today like you see in operating rooms. They are specialized pieces of equipment that were designed to protect hospital workers against `airborne` illnesses like tuberculosis, chicken pox and influenza. All of these are very small infectious particles that remain airborne after being exhaled by an infected person. There has been a lot of misinformation about these masks. Some say that they work, some say that they don’t. So what is the truth?
The fact is that N 95 respirators DO protect wearers against the flu- at least in theory and when used properly. The N 95 respirators ARE Airtight and Are Designed to protect the wearer from airborne particles as small as Mycobacterium Tubuculosis- approximately 45 nanometers in width or about 1/2 micron. The swine flu virus, by contrast, is almost twice as large at approximately 80-120 nanometers. In the hospital setting when used by trained practitioners, as set by Centers for Disease Control guidelines, these masks are VERY EFFECTIVE at preventing transmission of these tiny particles
But there are several reasons why the N-95 respirators are unlikely to work for the general public. The first reason is that it is difficult to get the right fit. Health care workers who wear surgical masks are told, "Here, put this on". Surgical masks can be worn by anyone, anywhere for long periods of time. As shown by people in China wearing masks while riding bicycles to work or even jogging, they are pretty comfortable and easy to use. But a health care worker who uses an N-95 must actually go through a short training session. First, the approximate correct size for your face is chosen and placed tightly onto the face with 2 tight straps fitting onto the head. Second, the metal band on the nose bridge is smoothed down to get a tight fit. Once a correct fit is approximated, the head is placed into a large plastic tube to approximate a confined space. A trainer, usually a nurse, sticks a spray bottle into a small hole and continuously sprays a saccharine solution into the plastic tube while the wearer turns the head from side to side and up and down to make sure that there are no air leaks. If the saccharine solution is tasted, then a good `fit` has not been obtained and the procedure is repeated with another sized mask until an airtight seal is obtained: sometimes difficult for those with particularly small or large faces or those who have facial hair.
The second reason is that N 95 Respirators are uncomfortable, hot and tight. While a surgical mask can be worn for hours without any problems, an N-95 respirator becomes uncomfortable and claustrophobic even in a cool hospital room within just minutes. After caring for someone for even a short while, the breath feels hot and uncomfortable and most begin to sweat- some people sweat PROFUSELY! Taking off the mask after wearing one for only a short while feels as if you stepped into a cool fresh breeze after just getting out of a sauna. Wearing one in an air conditioned theater while just sitting and watching a movie would be unbearable. Wearing one while riding a bicycle or while shopping would be just simply impossible.
Any mask- whether it is surgical or an N-95 is designed to be used for less than 20 minutes at a time. This is because the mask itself will become saturated with condensation from exhaled breath. And once it is saturated, then the pore filter size may be changed making the mask ineffective and potentially even trapping the offending viruses right against the wet mask- Right Next to the Face!
So, while N-95 masks DO effectively protect health care workers from even face to face transmission of airborne contaminants such as the flu, inappropriate usage by untrained lay people in real world circumstances would likely make them ineffective and nullify any of the potential protective effects of these effective filtration devices.
Resources:
http://www.medimart.com/medicalnews...
Book: The Great Influenza by John M. Barry
http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsh...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthom...
The following 10 screen captures are selected from 29-page Johns Hopkins .pdf file. To download the entire 29-pages, type “influenza: an impending pandemic+Johns Hopkins” in your Google or other Search Engine WINDOW! Then click on a result!
Downloading the .pdf file is worth the small effort required!
Not that you will learn much, be persuaded one way or the other or deem it relevant, but some Readers like Trivial Pursuit. And sometimes you get lucky and read an intelligent, informative comment. Discerning which are valid and which are garbage is the problem. Oh well, if I had to read them, why should I deny you! (Smile)
YES OR NO?
2 Vietnamese Deaths Prove Avian Flu Resistant To Roche's Tamiflu (oseltamivir) - What now! RI9
http://tabacco.blog-city.com/2_vietnamese_deaths_prove_avian_flu_resistant_to_roches_tami.htm
Tabacco Comment at end of above Post
1. Tabacco left...
Sunday, 15 January 2006 10:16 am :: http://tabacco.blog-city.com/
UPDATE FOR THOSE, WHO SWEAR BY FLU VACCINES!
Flu Virus Resistant to 2 Drugs, CDC Says By DANIEL YEE Associated Press Writer
January 15, 2006, 5:32 AM EST
ATLANTA -- The government, for the first time, is urging doctors not to prescribe two antiviral drugs commonly used to fight influenza after discovering that the predominant strain of the virus has built up high levels of resistance to them at alarming speed.
A whopping 91 percent of virus samples tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this flu season proved resistant to rimantadine and amantadine, a huge increase since last year, when only 11 percent were.
The discovery adds to worries about how to fight bird flu should it start spreading among people. Health officials had hoped to conserve use of two newer antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, because they show activity against bird flu, unlike the older drugs.
Now, because of the resistance issue, the newer drugs are being recommended for ordinary flu, increasing the chances that resistance will develop more rapidly to them, too, as they become more commonly used.
The newer drugs work against Type A and B influenza strains; the older ones work only against Type A, but cost less and are available in generic form.
CDC officials took the unusual step of calling a Saturday news conference to announce that the predominant strain this season -- the type A H3N2 influenza strain -- was resistant to the older drugs.
"Clinicians should not use rimantadine and amantadine ... because the drugs will not be effective," said CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding.
She said the lab tests, which CDC scientists had been analyzing since Friday, surprised health officials and the health agency rushed to get the word out.
"I don't think we were expecting it to be so dramatic so quickly this year," Gerberding said. "We just didn't feel it was responsible to wait three more days during a holiday weekend to let clinicians know."
The CDC tested 120 influenza A virus samples from the H3N2 strain and found that 109 were resistant to the two drugs. Two years ago, less than 2 percent of the samples were resistant. Last year, 11 percent were.
Gerberding said the agency didn't know how the resistance occurred, saying it may have been the result of a mutation in the virus or overuse of the drugs abroad, such as in countries that permit the drugs to be purchased without a prescription.
One flu expert, Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, said the development was "disconcerting" as flu now has joined the ranks of other diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV, that recently have acquired the ability to resist front-line medications.
But Schaffner said doctors have other options to fight influenza.
The CDC said that all H3 and H1 influenza viruses the agency has tested so far are susceptible to the newer antivirals: Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, and Relenza, also called zanamivir. Doctors also recommend an annual flu shot to help prevent getting influenza in the first place.
"Tamiflu is now readily available everywhere -- in most places, it is the primary antiviral being used" against flu, Schaffner said. "But we're always a bit frustrated when one of the therapeutic agents is foreclosed. It makes every infectious disease doctor worry a little bit."
That's especially worry with fears that bird flu could become turn into a human epidemic. The bird flu spreading through Asia infects people relatively rarely, but officials worry that it might morph into a form that spreads more easily, triggering a worldwide super-flu outbreak.
The CDC said it planned to alert doctors throughout the country via its emergency Health Alert Network and through a special edition of its weekly journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Each year, the flu kills about 36,000 people, and some 200,000 are hospitalized because of it in the United States, the CDC said. As of Dec. 31, the latest CDC data available, flu activity was only considered widespread in seven U.S. states, mainly in the Southwest and West: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California.
* ___
On the Net:
CDC flu info: http://www.cdc.gov/flu
Rimantadine info: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a698029.html
Amantadine info: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202024.html%und_ off(%)
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ats-ap_us13jan15,0,2092979,p rint.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines
- Republished by Tabacco
CONCLUSIONS
N-95 Surgical Masks a resounding NO!
Tamiflu, H1N1 or any other Flu shot – make your own decision! Tabacco abstains from taking flu shots although I did reconsider H1N1!
Tabacco recommends that, when folks in your ‘hood start dropping like flies, you use that 1950s Bomb Shelter you had built and stay there until spring comes!
If you buy surgical “filters”, don’t forget to buy surgical gloves, wash your individual dinner plate, flatware & drinking utensil! Don’t forget to open fridge with gloves on! Put gloves on after washing your hands religiously and before you touch the faucet, doorknob or your own clothes! Eat in the privacy of your own room or closet! Wear a clean surgical mask 24x7 (change every 6-hours) to avoid contamination from your family! Do not answer the doorbell ever! Put your pets in a pet hospice! Sleep alone always! Air-kiss your mate from a safe distance!
If, after all these precautions you still get H1N1, well at least you made it this far and long enough to read my Blog. I will miss you!
Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness! When you read Tabacco, if you don’t learn something NEW, I’ve wasted your time.
Tabacco is not a blogger, who thinks; I am a Thinker, who blogs.
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization) – Think Tank For Other 95% Of World: WTP = We The People