How Helpful Is The Surgical Mask Against The Swine Flu?

As swine flu continues to spread and care people around the world

, the sale of surgical masks has shot up. In fact, the masks were so much in demand that their prices rocketed making them very expensive. All over the place, people in cars, on roads, in schools, colleges and offices are seen wearing the mask. Is this mask really useful? How effective is it?

Unless one wears a respirator or other specially made masks that can filter the sub-microscopic viruses, wearing a standard surgical mask, or other facemasks that are not designed to filter sub-microscopic organisms will not help avoid breathing viruses on droplets in the air. Viruses are small enough to pass right through the masks, or can enter around the sides of the mask.

The masks may, however, help prevent the infection from spreading when worn by people that are infected with the flu. Wearing a mask prevents the virus on droplets from spreading in the air when the person sneezes or coughs. The surgical masks can help assure that a person with the flu does not give the virus to others when coughing or sneezing.

Surgical masks are designed to keep the respiratory droplets of the wearer contained while coughing or sneezing.

For crowded or public places with current Novel H1N1 cases, either facemasks or respirators are recommended to be worn by those who cannot avoid the area and who belong to the high risk people category. This would mean if you are already suffering from some kind of infection or your immunity is low.

It turns out that protection is possible, but the degree depends on what kind of mask one chooses, what kind of environment one is in and how consistantly one uses it.

There are basically two kinds of face masks: loose-fitting surgical or medical masks made of soft, thin cloth and form-fitting masks, also known as N-95 respirators, made of spun plastic fibers that filter the smaller particles.

The surgical masks are generally used to protect other people from the cough spray of the wearer. The respirators are designed to filter 95 percent of tiny particles, including influenza viruses. This is the one that might prevent you from catching the flu.

The virus that causes swine flu is a very small organism that can very well be floating around in the air too. This infection, the swine flu, mainly spreads via touch. Then next mode via which the flu spreads is the droplets that are thrown into the air when an infected person either sneezes or coughs.

Wearing a surgical mask can protect only so much from the larger droplets while someone coughs or sneezes. It does not really help filter out the smaller droplets which also contain the virus. The urgical mask comes in handy for people who are not the kind that will wash their hands frequently. In such a case, a mask prevents the virus spreading through touching one's face, when one touches the mouth or nose. Surgical masks are not as effective as respirators or N95 masks, which are finer than the surgical ones.

by: Wes Hamilton

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