{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T17:13:52Z","timestamp":1772212432498,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,5]],"date-time":"2022-01-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1641340800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000057","name":"National Institute of General Medical Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["K12-GM102778"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["K12-GM102778"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000057","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000015","name":"U.S. Department of Energy","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["DE-SC0012704"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DE-SC0012704"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000015","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In times of crisis, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain of filtering facepiece respirators, such as N95 respirators, are disrupted. To combat shortages of N95 respirators, many institutions were forced to decontaminate and reuse respirators. While several reports have evaluated the impact on filtration as a measurement of preservation of respirator function after decontamination, the equally important fact of maintaining proper fit to the users\u2019 face has been understudied. In the current study, we demonstrate the complete inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 and preservation of fit test performance of N95 respirators following treatment with dry heat. We apply scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM\/EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements to analyze filter material changes as a consequence of different decontamination treatments. We further compared the integrity of the respirator after autoclaving versus dry heat treatment via quantitative fit testing and found that autoclaving, but not dry heat, causes the fit of the respirator onto the users face to fail, thereby rendering the decontaminated respirator unusable. Our findings highlight the importance to account for both efficacy of disinfection and mask fit when reprocessing respirators to for clinical redeployment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0257963","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,5]],"date-time":"2022-01-05T13:27:45Z","timestamp":1641389265000},"page":"e0257963","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Dry heat sterilization as a method to recycle N95 respirator masks: The importance of fit"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1569-3298","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"John G.","family":"Yuen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9174-0474","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Amy C.","family":"Marshilok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peter Todd","family":"Benziger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shan","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeronimo","family":"Cello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3773-5321","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Chavis A.","family":"Stackhouse","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kim","family":"Kisslinger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David C.","family":"Bock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Esther S.","family":"Takeuchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kenneth J.","family":"Takeuchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sruthi","family":"Babu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Glen","family":"Itzkowitz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Thanassi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7732-3922","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Daniel A.","family":"Knopf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kenneth R.","family":"Shroyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,5]]},"reference":[{"issue":"7813","key":"pone.0257963.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2271-3","article-title":"Aerodynamic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in two Wuhan hospitals","volume":"582","author":"Y Liu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"21","key":"pone.0257963.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2063","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMc2009324","article-title":"Droplets and Aerosols in the Transmission of SARS-CoV-2","volume":"382","author":"M Meselson","year":"2020","journal-title":"New England Journal of Medicine"},{"issue":"18","key":"pone.0257963.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e41","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMp2006141","article-title":"Critical supply shortages\u2014the need for ventilators and personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic","volume":"382","author":"ML Ranney","year":"2020","journal-title":"New England Journal of Medicine"},{"key":"pone.0257963.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106263","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ypmed.2020.106263","article-title":"Contributing factors to personal protective equipment shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic","author":"J Cohen","year":"2020","journal-title":"Preventive Medicine"},{"key":"pone.0257963.ref005","unstructured":"Control CfD, Prevention. Implementing filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) reuse, including reuse after decontamination, when there are known shortages of N95 respirators. Updated August 4, 2020."},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0257963.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e112","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(20)30678-2","article-title":"Low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by fomites in real-life conditions","volume":"21","author":"MU Mondelli","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Lancet Infectious Diseases"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0257963.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0243965","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0243965","article-title":"Decontamination of N95 masks for re-use employing 7 widely available sterilization methods","volume":"15","author":"A Kumar","year":"2020","journal-title":"PloS one"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0257963.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajic.2020.06.194","article-title":"N95 reprocessing by low temperature sterilization with 59% vaporized hydrogen peroxide during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"49","author":"M Jatta","year":"2021","journal-title":"American Journal of Infection Control"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0257963.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2672.2010.04881.x","article-title":"A method to determine the available UV-C dose for the decontamination of filtering facepiece respirators","volume":"110","author":"EM Fisher","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of applied microbiology"},{"key":"pone.0257963.ref010","unstructured":"3M. 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