Masks against influenza and respiratory illnesses [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Collignon, Peter (Health)]

Hi all

This has just come out.

Shows ordinary masks are just as good as N95 masks to protect Healthcare workers against acquiring influenza at work (and other respiratory viruses).

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2749214

Results Among 2862 randomized participants (mean [SD] age, 43 [11.5] years; 2369 [82.8%]) women), 2371 completed the study and accounted for 5180 HCP-seasons. There were 207 laboratory-confirmed influenza infection events (8.2% of HCP-seasons) in the N95 respirator group and 193 (7.2% of HCP-seasons) in the medical mask group (difference, 1.0%, [95% CI, 0.5% to 2.5%]; P=.18) (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.18 [95% CI, 0.95-1.45]).

There were 1556 acute respiratory illness events in the respirator group vs 1711 in the mask group (difference, 21.9 per 1000 HCP-seasons [95% CI, 48.2 to 4.4]; P=.10); 679 laboratory-detected respiratory infections in the respirator group vs 745 in the mask group (difference, 8.9 per 1000 HCP-seasons, [95% CI, 33.3 to 15.4]; P=.47); 371 laboratory-confirmed respiratory illness events in the respirator group vs 417 in the mask group (difference, 8.6 per 1000 HCP-seasons [95% CI, 28.2 to 10.9]; P=.39); and 128 influenza-like illness events in the respirator group vs 166 in the mask group (difference, 11.3 per 1000 HCP-seasons [95% CI, 23.8 to 1.3]; P=.08). In the respirator group, 89.4% of participants reported always or sometimes wearing their assigned devices vs 90.2% in the mask group.

Peter C

Peter Collignon AM
MB, BS, BSc(Med), PhD, FRACP, FRCPA, FASM
Infectious Diseases Physician and Microbiologist, Canberra Hospital
Professor, Medical School. Australian National University.

PO Box 11, Woden. ACT. 2606. Australia.
phone 61 2 6244 2105
email peter.collignon@act.gov.au

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