Evaluation of Respiratory Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Review of the literature
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION
The pandemic is still ongoing and variants with a greater degree of diffusibility have appeared. The adoption of personal protective equipment (PPE) of the respiratory tract is still a fundamental measure for the prevention of the disease.
OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this review was an update of the studies on the efficacy of respiratory tract PPE in relation to SARS-CoV-2.
METHODS
This systematic review was carried out in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. An electronic literature search was performed in the MEDLINE database via PubMed, based on the chronological order of the publications (free full text), subsequent to December 2019 until September 2021, selecting reviews and systematic reviews in English.
RESULTS
Out of a total of 609 reviews identified, studies evaluating exposure to COVID-19, the technical characteristics and the decision-making process for the selection of surgical masks and respirators were considered. Laboratory tests confirm that in the prevention of influenza infection surgical masks work in a similar way to N95 respirators, for flu-like illnesses and clinical respiratory diseases N95 respirators are preferred. There is no clear evidence that N95 respirators are more effective than surgical masks especially during routine care of COVID-19 patients; even if in moderate and high risk procedures, exposure to SARS-CoV-2, there is greater protection through the use of N95 or FFP2 respirators.
CONCLUSIONS
At present, further research is to be developed to describe the effectiveness of respiratory tract PPE through laboratory studies using SARS-CoV-2 virus as a test. Most randomized clinical trials on surgical masks and respirators are based on the virus size criterion and use or test clinical endpoints for influenza virus infection.
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