Successful establishment and evaluation of a reprocessing concept via steam at 105 °C for FFP masks in hospitals in case of logistic shortages.

Filtering face piece (FFP) masks according to EN 149 are essential components of personal protective equipment against biological agents from an occupational health and hospital hygiene perspective. Therefore, shortages due to increased demand or supply bottlenecks can lead to staff threats due to the risk of infection. To determine whether FFP masks could be made reusable in a hospital setting, a thermal reprocessing concept (steam at 105 °C with a holding phase of 10 min) was evaluated in a bed reprocessing chamber.