Face masks to prevent illness

[ccmummy]

Due to having two young children, and a husband with an immune system disorder I'm always worrying about illness so am making a pandemic my prepping worry number one. With this in mind can anyone recomend what face masks are good in this situation? I don't mean a 100%, bodies piling up in the street situation (won't be leaving the house then if I can help it!) more a swine flu situation iykwim. I've looked about the board but most seem to be expencive, complicated gas mask type things and I don't have a huge budget so hoping to get a half decent one now then upgrade when I can. Sorry I'm waffling

[pseudonym]

Have a read of this:

http://www.naturalnews.com/026160_prepa ... swine.html

Unless you go for air-tight respirators, and they cost a lot.

HTH

[Maddosammo]

have you thought about the ones that they use in asia for the photochemical smog, they are relativly cheap i should imagine

or you could buy something like this

http://www.chemiclean.co.uk/swine-flu-m ... tAodB0wAnw

hope this helps at work and being looked at so cannot go into great deal.

Sam

[TonyAge]

I have to cater for someone with immune system issues.

My thoughts go...

It will be some time before the scale/existence of the pandemic becomes known. So people in the household are likely to be carriers long before showing symptoms etc

Although it may be an airborne transmitted disease, it isn't literally "everywhere" in the air, and there are probably some elements of transmission via skin contact.

So, by use of sanitizer gel around hands/mouth/nose and N95/N99 masks worn by everyone (mainly to prevent possible cross-infection between people in the same household), and by reducing the ventilation into the house, I think the risk is lowered for not too much outlay.

Yes, a full respirator would be super - although I'm not sure living in one 24/7 for weeks on end is possible/desirable and how/where would wearers eat? (I know you can get some that allow use of a straw for drinking?).

If I ever see them cheap enough (including refill canisters) then I will probably get a few - but that will be mainly for a differnt type of risk/scenario.

[ccmummy]

Thanks guys

[unsure]

i`d go with N95 as well , the cheaper ones are , from what i learned here . not so much to keep nasties out but the keep them in so you don`t spread any thing to others .

[Appin]

Face masks are not recommended for a couple of reasons mostly practical.

Firstly it isn't really possible to wear them all the time and you don't know who is infectious.

Second they don't offer complete protection and can infect you if you don't know how to use them ( Eg Taking off a mask routine is first snap the lower strap, then take hold of the upper strap on your head and lift the whole mask forward and off without touching the mask itself. Drop into a waste container.) Get it wrong and you get virus from the outside of the mask onto your hands.

They are of use if you are trying to stop someone who you know is infectious from infecting you. N95 or N 99 work. N99 is better. Also you need eye protection as a sneeze blows droplets into the eye infecting the victim ( have you seen the distance a sneeze sprays it is amazing!)

Unofficially in the SARS outbreak a few years ago one hospital ran out of masks. They found out if you bag up the masks and put them somewhere hot for 48 hrs they were usable again. You have to be pretty desperate before you try that trick.

Appin

[Padds]

Other than looking a bit daft, I'm guessing that wearing a mask with a beard isn't going to be particularly effective (hard on face = poor contact = leaks round the sides?).

For those of you who have bought this type of mask, is there anything about beards/facial hair mentioned on the packaging or in the instructions?

For anyone else out there with a beard, have you got a solution that doesn't involve shaving it off?

[DundeePrepper]

This is unfortunately an American Healthcare site.. so maybe a load of horse fertiliser BUT...
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Produ ... 055977.htm

It seems to say there is no point in wearing it to avoid small airborne particles / bacteria etc..

Other than looking a bit daft, I'm guessing that wearing a mask with a beard isn't going to be particularly effective (hard on face = poor contact = leaks round the sides?).

For those of you who have bought this type of mask, is there anything about beards/facial hair mentioned on the packaging or in the instructions?

For anyone else out there with a beard, have you got a solution that doesn't involve shaving it off?

"N95 respirators are not designed for children or people with facial hair. Because a proper fit cannot be achieved on children and people with facial hair, the N95 respirator may not provide full protection."
New razor for x-mas i think.........

[ForgeCorvus]

It seems the best way to reduce the chance of infection is to put the mask on the infectious person, that way they get to keep their germs to themselves.

I think I saw a link to N-95 rated hoods on one of the other sites I go on....Let me have a dig around