Will A Mask Protect You From Swine Flu?

A Mexico City resident lends a certain savoir faire to his flu mask.

Introduction

The Telegraph ran a gallery of Chilangos (residents of Mexico City) wearing surgical masks as protection from swine flu. Wearing a mask to keep from getting sick may seem like a good idea, especially since so many other people do it. The Mexican Government is using masks as a disease control method. People all over Asia wear masks when they’re sick. So, should we start breaking out the masks?

Before going to the pharmacy you might consider the following: Do masks actually keep you safe from the flu? And, if they do, Which masks are the best to wear?

We’ll answer this by looking at the efficacy of  the masks that are commonly available.

Mask 1: The Surgical Mask

A woman wears a surgical mask.

To make a long story short, a surgical mask probably isn’t going to do much to keep you from getting sick.

The surgical mask can filter large drops of liquid. So, if you have sick people sneezing directly in your face, this will do some good.
However, the mask is not fine enough to filter out extremely small droplets or viruses randomly floating through the air, like if you’re in a crowd and some extremely contagious guy with the flu is breathing or coughing all over everyone.

Mask 2: N95 mask

An N95 respirator made by 3M.

An N95 respirator can filter out smaller particles (such as the flu-laden drops someone might cough on you), but still isn’t fine enough to filter out random viruses flying through the air.

That being said, this is the type of mask that the CDC is recommending doctors wear when working with swine flu patients.

Summary:

While the N95 sounds like it will reduce your chances of infection the most, remember that flu is mainly transmitted by touch. Someone with the flu grabs a door handle, and then you touch the handle later and then rub your eyes or eat with your hands. All that mask wearing for nothing.

Some have theorized that the main benefit of wearing a mask is that it gets you to keep your hands out of your mouth and away from your face in general. If you are prone to putting your hands in your mouth or nose, it might be worth wearing a mask just so you’re no longer able to continue doing so.

The CDC says to not screw around with wearing a mask unless you’re around people who you know are sick. Instead, wash your hands, use hand sanitizer, drink fluids, avoid crowds (if you’re paranoid), and stay away from sick people.

Do not go out in public if you are sick!
If you must go out, wear a mask to keep the disease from spreading.

If you want to read more about masks, check out this article in the LA Times or this one from the Brisbane Times.