Authors
Jaques PA; Gao P; Kilinc Balci S; Portnoff L; Weible R; Horvatin M; Strauch A; Shaffer R
Source
J Occup Environ Hyg 2016 Nov; 13(11):881-893
Abstract
Gowns and coveralls are important components of protective ensembles used during the management of known or suspected Ebola patients. In this study, an Elbow Lean Test was used to obtain a visual semi-quantitative measure of the resistance of medical protective garments to the penetration of two bodily fluid simulants. Tests were done on swatches of continuous and discontinuous regions of fabrics cut from five gowns and four coveralls at multiple elbow pressure levels (2 - 44 PSI). Swatches cut from the continuous regions of one gown and two coveralls did not have any strike-through. For discontinuous regions, only the same gown consistently resisted fluid strike-through. As hypothesized, with the exception of one garment, fluid strike-through increased with higher applied elbow pressure, was higher for lower fluid surface tension, and was higher for the discontinuous regions of the protective garments.
Keywords
Personal protection; Personal protective equipment; Diseases; Disease control; Body fluids; Fabrics; Protective measures; Protective materials; Protective clothing; Clothing; Ebola virus disease; Infection control; Infectious diseases; Materials testing;
Author Keywords: Ebola; medical garment; synthetic blood; elbow lean test; strike-through
Contact
Pengfei Gao, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236
Document Type
Journal Article
Email Address
pgao@cdc.gov
Source Name
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
