Background

The need for protective masks greatly exceeds their global supply during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We optimized the temperature used in the dry heat pasteurization method to destroy pathogens and decontaminate masks while retaining their filtering capacity.

Results

The current study showed that dry heat at both 60°C and 70°C for 1 hour could successfully kill 6 species of respiratory bacteria and one fungi species, and inactivate the H1N1 indicator virus. After being heated at 70°C for 1, 2, and 3 hours, the N95 respirators and surgical face masks showed no changes in their shape and components. The filtering efficiency of bacterial aerosol for N95 respirators were 98%, 98%, and 97% after being heated for 1, 2, and 3 hour, respectively, all of which were over the 95% efficiency required and similar to the value before being heated (99%). The filtering efficiency for surgical face masks was 97%, 97%, and 96% for 1, 2, and 3 hours of heating, respectively, all of which were also similar to the value before being heated (97%).

Conclusions

This method can be used at home and can significantly resolve the current shortage of masks.

中文翻译：

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通过在 70°C 下干热巴氏杀菌一小时对外科口罩和 N95 呼吸器进行消毒。

背景

在当前 COVID-19 大流行期间，对防护口罩的需求大大超过了其全球供应量。

方法

我们优化了干热巴氏杀菌法中使用的温度，以消灭病原体和净化口罩，同时保持其过滤能力。

结果

目前的研究表明，60°C和70°C的干热1小时可以成功杀死6种呼吸道细菌和1种真菌，并灭活H1N1指示病毒。在 70°C 加热 1、2 和 3 小时后，N95 呼吸器和外科口罩的形状和部件没有变化。N95口罩在加热1小时、2小时、3小时后细菌气溶胶过滤效率分别为98%、98%和97%，均超过要求的95%效率，与使用前的值相近。加热 (99%)。加热1、2、3小时的外科口罩过滤效率分别为97%、97%、96%，也与加热前的值（97%）相近。

结论

这种方法可以在家中使用，可以显着解决目前口罩短缺的问题。