There have been various reports in the media suggesting that facemasks and respirators are not effective in preventing the spread of Influenza viruses. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) however suggests that ‘the use of a facemask or a respirator might help prevent the spread of pandemic flu’ if used in conjunction with other preventative methods, such as sanitizing hands.

It is also crucial to understand the difference between facemasks and respirators. Facemasks do not provide the filtration that respirators do, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) state:

“Disposable particulate respirators, although similar in appearance to surgical masks, differ significantly from surgical masks because they are specifically designed to protect the wearer from exposure to airborne infectious diseases by sealing tightly to the face and filtering infectious particles from the air.

Surgical and procedure masks do not provide protection against small-particle aerosols (droplet nuclei).”

http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/surveillance/Annex6.pdf

Important considerations when choosing a respirator.

Filtration Levels – There are a number of different respirators available most notably P2 and P3 varieties. This refers to the efficiency of the mask in terms of filtering particles, specifically in terms of the size of particles prevented from passing through the respirator, P3’s offering the best protection out of the two aformentioned.

The Fit of the respirator is also extremely important. Choosing one that creates a tight seal against your face will prevent particles from passing through gaps that may be left when using poorly fitted masks.

Finally some respirators are actually impregnated with iodine. The iodine impregnated mask not only filters the infectious particles out of the air but will also destroy infectious particles passing through it from the air.