Cypris ISOSAFE O.R. face masks Case of 300 (6 boxes of 50) Rely on ISOSAFE's high filtration micro-fiber filter media with a BFE rating exceeding AORN standards. Each ISOSAFE mask features threelayers, with the innermost layer soft and smooth for maximum comfort. An adjustable nosepiece ensures a custom fit. Earloop style. 6 boxes of 50 per case.	Cypris ISOSAFE earloop Face Mask with Wrap- around eye shield - case of 300 The face mask with shield is designed to reduce the exposure of the wearer to potentially contaminating fluids. The two components are the comfortable and efficient earloop face mask and the clear plastic wrap-around shield. Mask and shield exceed AORN standards, ensuring staff protection against air borne particulates. The two outer layers of the earloop face mask help prevent leakage, assuring staff safety, while the innermost layer is soft and smooth for a more comfortable fit. The shield can be worn with eye glasses underneathe and even helps eliminate eye glass fogging, ensuring better staff efficiency. It's secure to the face mask, eliminating "blow-by" and providing one-piece full facial protection.	Surgical Masks and Particulate Respirator - Health Care / Personal Protection Box of 20 A particulate respirator and surgical mask that is NIOSH approved as a Type 95 respirator and meets CDC guidelines for TB exposure control. It is designed specifically for use in health care settings, but can also be used for home health care and personal protection. This protective mask includes a soft inner shell for greater comfort against the face, and since it is fluid resistant, it helps reduce potential exposure of the wearer to the spray, spatter, and aerosol of blood and body fluids. Other Benefits: Can be used during laser surgery, electrocautery, and other procedures using powered medical instruments to help reduce wearer exposure to airborne particles generated during these procedures. 99% Bacterial Filtration Efficiency ( BFE ) to help reduce patient contamination caused by exhaled microorganisms. Does not contain either natural or rubber latex or dry natural rubber as components in the product or its packaging. Hypoallergenic to reduce chance of allergic reaction. Sorry, these 3M products are not available to purchasers outside of the U.S.A. Due to high demand, these masks will ship June 10, 2003
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The efficacy of surgical masks in avoiding SARS PRINT FRIENDLY EMAIL STORY
PM - Thursday, 24 April , 2003 18:24:00
Reporter: Rafael Epstein
MARK COLVIN: In TV images from Singapore to Toronto, the surgical mask has become the symbol of the panic over SARS. But is its protection any more than psychological? Not much, say the experts. And experts still don't know either the scale of the threat SARS poses.

The World Health organisation expects to establish a vital fact very soon to gauge the extent of the threat. By this weekend they expect to know whether only sick people are contagious, or whether there are many people around the world who are unaware that they're carrying the virus.

Rafael Epstein reports.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: If you're unlucky enough to come across someone who has SARS, how would you catch the virus? Saliva is thought to be an unlikely carrier of the virus, but the tiny droplets of moisture a victim exhales, are highly likely to be infectious.

Which is why people are wearing masks.

But Professor Yvonne Cossart from the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Sydney, says a mask is only effective for about fifteen minutes, before it needs to be replaced.

YVONNE COSSART: A surgical mask traps the droplets that are in the air you breathe out and that's very useful in trapping viruses because that's where they concentrate. So it's not that the filter has got to be small enough to hold back the virus particles, which need very expensive and very cumbersome filters, but the ordinary surgical masks hold back those droplets in the air.

Now, the snag is those masks are only effective so long as they are dry. As soon as they become saturated with the moisture in your breath, they stop doing their job and pass on the droplets.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So they're not really effective for very long?

YVONNE COSSART: That's right. You need to change them. It's usually about every fifteen or twenty minutes. If you change your mask of course, you're going to get any germs on your hands that are on the surface of the mask.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Even if you've got a mask, every time you might change it, each fifteen minutes, whatever could have infected your mouth could be on your hands.

YVONNE COSSART: Yes, that's right.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So is it worthwhile wearing a mask at all?

YVONNE COSSART: It's not got a good track record of stopping epidemics of respiratory disease.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: If you were in Beijing or Toronto, would you wear a mask?

YVONNE COSSART: I wouldn't, unless I was going into a room with sick patients.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: And in that case, you'd wear one with a filter?

YVONNE COSSART: Yes, or even a surgical one if I was only going in briefly.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: But there is one method that works with all other more common viruses; a simple method to prevent infection – simply wash your hands before you eat or touch your face. So what of the warnings to stay away from cities like Toronto.

Are they warranted?

YVONNE COSSART: I think a lot depends on your perceptions of risk and what you're willing to think is a reasonable risk. The problem for anyone offering advice is that they're guessing on the basis of rather inadequate numbers.

What we don't know, but should know fairly soon now these tests are available, is whether all the people that are sick are all the people that are infected. Or whether in these areas, where there are a lot of cases, there are many people who are infected, but not sick.

Because if there's a big reservoir of fairly well people with the virus, of course, the chances of you being exposed are much higher. So until that's settled, it really is difficult to give really good scientific advice, and the advice really relies upon how much you want to go.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: How much of a danger is it compared to all the other things that you might catch when you go either to a country like Canada or China? Presumably there are other diseases in the air and on the surfaces in those countries that are also lethal sometimes?

YVONNE COSSART: In all countries. I mean, the world is full of microbes and your susceptibility to them is more important probably than whether they're there or not.

MARK COLVIN: Professor Yvonne Cossart from the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Sydney, with Rafael Epstein.

And tonight, China has reported another 125 cases of cases, 4 more deaths.