When should NIOSH approved disposable respirators be worn?
Respirators (disposable or otherwise) should be worn when faced with infections that can be spread by tiny droplets (smaller than 5 microns) that ride air currents, readily pass through isolation or surgical masks and have potentially severe consequences. Examples of airborne infections include tuberculosis, avian flu, SARS, shingles, smallpox, viral hemorrhagic fevers (like Ebola), anthrax spores, suspected bioterrorist activity, and even measles and chicken pox (when the individual in the vicinity is not immune to the airborne infectious viruses). They should also be worn when working disaster relief disease spread is suspected, but the entity is unknown, or when any unusual outbreak of unknown origin occurs with respiratory involvement. Although the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have only emphasized the use of disposable respirators when exposed to pulmonary tuberculosis, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), avian flu, (including symp
