Surgical mask 821829 198354563 2008-03-15T05:08:59Z 202.40.137.199 [[Image:Surgeon operating, Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, circa 1990.JPEG|thumb|Three surgeons operating with ''surgical masks''. [[Fitzsimons Army Medical Center]], circa. 1990]] A '''surgical mask''' is intended to be worn by [[health professional]]s during [[surgery]] and at other times to catch the bacteria shed in liquid droplets and aerosols from the wearer's mouth and nose. Outside health care facilities, simple, inexpensive masks of similar appearance are commonly worn in heavily populated centres in East Asia to help prevent spreading the common cold. More recently, they were widely used in [[China]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Vietnam]], and [[Toronto]], [[Canada]] during outbreaks of the [[SARS]] [[virus]]. Modern surgical masks are made from paper or other non-woven material, and are discarded after each use. ==Effectiveness== Simple surgical masks can reduce the spread of [[bacterium|bacteria]] in [[Particulate|aerosols]]. Apart from protecting the wearer from splashes in the mouth with body fluids, they are intended to protect others from the wearer's oral and nasal bacteria. They are not designed to protect the wearer from inhaled particles. Viral particles are far too small to be effectively filtered by the fibres of a regular surgical mask. Thus, a mask wearer would not be less likely to catch a viral disease than someone not wearing a mask. However, an already infected person wearing a mask may slightly reduce his chances of infecting others, as it may catch droplets of fluid expelled during [[sneezing|sneeze]] or [[coughing|cough]]. [[Image:ArpanahospitalOTscrubs.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Green Scrubs being worn by operating staff in an OR]] The [[NIOSH]] N95 standard mask is able to protect the wearer from viral particles in aerosols and airborne liquid droplets. Another benefit of masks, even ones permeable to viruses, is to remind the wearer not to touch his face. Direct skin contact after touching a surface with viruses on it (termed a [[fomite]]) may transfer viruses which are not typically airborne. A surgical mask will trap some particles but is much less effective than a mask designed for this purpose. {{medical-equipment-stub}} [[Category:Medical equipment]] [[Category:Medical hygiene]] [[Category:Masks]] [[de:Mundschutz (Medizin)]] [[ja:マスク]] [[pt:Máscara cirúrgica]] [[zh:口罩]]