American journal of infection control
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Am J Infect Control · Mar 2006
Multicenter StudyImpact of an infection control program on rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia in intensive care units in 2 Argentinean hospitals.
Hospitalized, critically ill patients have a significant risk of developing nosocomial infection. Most episodes of nosocomial pneumonia occur in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation (MV). ⋯ Implementation of a multicomponent infection control program in Argentinean ICUs was associated with significant reductions in rates of VAP.
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Am J Infect Control · Mar 2006
Do N95 respirators provide 95% protection level against airborne viruses, and how adequate are surgical masks?
Respiratory protection devices are used to protect the wearers from inhaling particles suspended in the air. Filtering face piece respirators are usually tested utilizing nonbiologic particles, whereas their use often aims at reducing exposure to biologic aerosols, including infectious agents such as viruses and bacteria. ⋯ The N95 filtering face piece respirators may not provide the expected protection level against small virions. Some surgical masks may let a significant fraction of airborne viruses penetrate through their filters, providing very low protection against aerosolized infectious agents in the size range of 10 to 80 nm. It should be noted that the surgical masks are primarily designed to protect the environment from the wearer, whereas the respirators are supposed to protect the wearer from the environment.