Uncovering the History of Medical Face Masks In the Time of COVID-19

Uncovering the History of Medical Face Masks In the Time of COVID-19



Much attention has been given to the role of the surgical mask in helping control the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of universal masking has been debated at length since the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization recommends that every person should wear a mask. The New York Times has published several articles regarding surgical face mask usage in the general population. Although masks have become a symbol of our times, they have been around for many years. It is difficult to determine exactly when they were first used for preventing the spread of airborne infections.To get more news about CE antiepidemic mask, you can visit tnkme.com official website.
In 1897, Dr. Carl Georg Friedrich Wilhelm FlÜgge, a prominent bacteriologist and hygienist in Germany, developed the droplet theory of infection. His theory revolved around the idea that microorganisms in droplets expelled from the respiratory tract are a means of transmission. That same year, Dr. Johann Freiherr von Mikulicz-Radecki, a Polish surgeon, proposed that one layer of gauze could serve as what is now known as a surgical mask. In 1898, Dr. W. Huebner recommended masks made of two layers of gauze to be worn during operations, stating this mask was more efficient. Over the last century, medical researchers have continued to experiment with designs and materials.

In 1905, Dr. Alice Hamilton, an American physician, published a manuscript wherein she suggested that scarlet fever was transmitted through respiratory droplets. She was an advocate of the use of face masks. Dr. Hamilton claimed that masks should be worn by nurses handling sterile dressings and doctors during operations to prevent droplet infections from spreading to the patients. However, it was not until 1910 that the use of face masks became common in hospitals and surgery (Figure). In 1915, Meltzer advised the use of a fine-mesh gauze mask to cover the faces of patients with infantile paralysis and the health care personnel caring for them. In 1918, Dr. George H. Weaver from the Durand Hospital in Chicago described his two-year experience treating patients with diphtheria and showed that the incidence of diphtheria infections among attendants who wore a mask of double-thickness gauze was zero. Dr. Weaver was one of the first physicians who recommended sterilizing masks after the first use, replacing moist masks with sterile ones, and avoiding touching masks when in contact with sick patients. That same year, during World War I, Dr. Joseph A. Capps, a major in the U.S. Army, established that there was 95% effectiveness in protecting health care workers caring for patients with contagious diseases as well as for protecting patients against cross infections in military hospitals when wearing a three- to four-layer face mask.
Several studies were conducted over the next few years trying to determine which type of gauze mask was the most effective. The most well-known study was conducted by Dr. Brewster C. Doust and Dr. Arthur B. Lyon (JAMA 1918;71[15]:1216-1219). They tested three types of masks: coarse gauze, medium gauze and butter cloth. They concluded that the coarse gauze was ineffective and that finer gauze provided better results in terms of preventing the transmission of microorganisms. Those findings were later confirmed by Drs. G.H. Weaver and H.M. Leete in 1919.

Surgical masks were widely used by the late 1920s. Further studies confirming the efficacy of surgical masks in preventing surgical wound infectious were published by Dr. I.J. Walker in 1930, Dr. Meleney in 1935, and Drs. D. Hart and J.F. Davis in 1937.

In the 1940s, with the advent of antibiotics, attention to surgical masks decreased dramatically. There were no major publications or new improvements. However, over time, physicians realized antibiotics were not a replacement for careful attention to sterile techniques. In the 1950s, aseptic surgical technique became extremely important, and the whole concept included the use of surgical scrubs, gloves, proper gowning, capping and sterile drapes, among other measures. In 1958, Drs. J.C. Kiser and C.R. Hitchcock designed a mask that combined the properties of filtration and deflection. Dr. R. Adams evaluated this mask and concluded that a fitted filter mask was more efficient than gauze masks. In 1961, Dr. M.M. Musselman described a new fitted mask intended to be used only once and then discarded. In the 1970s, the first N95 masks were created by 3M using a melt-blown process. Initially designed for industrial use, they became a health care standard following the virus-blocking technology developed by Peter Tsai at the University of Tennessee.