An N95 mask is a form of protective equipment used against Coronavirus. Although the COVID-19 vaccine is being distributed to health care workers in some parts of the world, there is still a massive demand for PPEs. They are always available in less quantity, so much so that health workers are now being asked to reuse them. To do this, it is needed that they are adequately disinfected as per medical standards.
As a considerable development to the N95 Mask Market, a group of researchers has developed a way in which N95 masks can be disinfected that is both easy to use and cheap. All that is required is a small amount of methylene blue, and a large dose of bright light or sunlight.
This method is a gold standard among health personnel and may work on other types of personal protective equipment (PPEs) as well.
This new method may be considered a valuable tool for healthcare workers working in developing countries. As they usually do not have access to refrigerators or other highly technical means of sterilization. For several months, researchers examined the viability of disinfecting N95 masks so that healthcare personnel could reuse them without any health hazard.
N95 masks and other industry-standard masks are made with the view of single-use.-This is because it is rather tricky to sanitize them without destroying them or making them toxic for use. Currently, some commercial methods can be used to disinfect PPEs in the market. However, they require very expensive equipment, making them hard to acquire.
In this study, methylene blue is used, which is a readily available chemical that can be found in developing countries as well. It is usually used to sterilize blood plasma for transfusion and also works as a tropical sanitizer when it comes in contact with sunlight or bright light.
The most interesting aspect of methylene blue is that once it is used for disinfection, it continues to deactivate the Coronavirus days after the mask has been treated. There is a possibility that people would be protected for weeks after a single treatment with this solution and bright light.
The team will now invest time in developing applications of this technology that may further be able to remove issues that front line workers face in the current pandemic situation. They are now collaborating with companies that manufacture PPEs so that existing ones can be improved and such applications can be developed that would save millions from getting infected.