Airborne Pathogens: Elusive and Dangerous

These questions include:

What are the major modes of influenza transmission?

What are the relevant sizes of aerosols?

What is the infectivity of aerosols?

How does air flow exchange and ventilation affect transmission?

What is the effectiveness of medical masks?

What is the role of fomites?

Should PPE other than respirators be certified? If so, who would be responsible for certification?

“Controlling the spread of a potential influenza pandemic is of critical importance to the more than 14 million healthcare workers in the United States (approximately 10 percent of the U.S. workforce) and their patients,” Fries wrote in a NIOSH blog. “Given that healthcare workers will be on the front lines during an influenza pandemic, protecting them with the best available prevention methods and PPE is imperative to reducing illness and death and preventing the progression of a pandemic.”

The basic steps that medical facilities should take to contain airborne pathogen exposure involve having the necessary equipment on site, and making certain that personnel are properly trained to deal with a wide range of possible threats well in advance, Birkner says.

He believes that for respiratory protection, every facility should have an adequate stockpile of NIOSH-certified N95 respirators or comparable equipment. Every employee should have one. Guidance on the size of the respirator stockpile and other useful pandemic preparation information can be found at: www.osha.gov/dsg/guidance/stockpiling-facemasks-respirators.html.

“Although this document has not been finalized, it has some good information that medical facilities can use to help them prepare,” Birkner adds.