Publications by authors named "April E Lumley"

Nosocomial infections pose an escalating threat to both patients and healthcare workers (HCWs). A widely recommended device for individual respiratory protection, the N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) has been shown to provide efficient filtration of inert particles larger and smaller than the nominal most-penetrating particle size (MPPS) range, 0.03-0.

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Background: Decontamination, cleaning, and reuse of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) has been proposed to mitigate an acute FFR shortage during a public health emergency. Our study evaluates the ability of commercially available wipe products to clean FFRs contaminated with either infectious or noninfectious aerosols.

Methods: Three models of surgical N95 FFRs were contaminated with aerosols of mucin or viable Staphylococcus aureus then cleaned with hypochlorite, benzalkonium chloride, or nonantimicrobial wipes.

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OBJECTIVE. Specification of appropriate personal protective equipment for respiratory protection against influenza is somewhat controversial. In a clinical environment, N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) are often recommended for respiratory protection against infectious aerosols.

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Background: A major concern among health care experts is a projected shortage of N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) during an influenza pandemic. One option for mitigating an FFR shortage is to decontaminate and reuse the devices. Many parameters, including biocidal efficacy, filtration performance, pressure drop, fit, and residual toxicity, must be evaluated to verify the effectiveness of this strategy.

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