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© 2015 AFPMERS sparks mask rush in Asia, but are they effective?
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© 2015 AFP
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Kaerimashita
Effective at covering up some of the dental disasters folks here have. Or making a social statement about how caring one is. for germs, not so sure.
CH3CHO
hamptonJun. 22, 2015 - 12:13AM JST
When the mask get wet, so much water was prevented from going out. Virus travels only in spay of water. Masks can reduce the outflow. Who is more "idiotic", mask users or those who cover mouth with a hand when they sneeze? I always wonder how anyone can cover his mouth with his hand when touching his mouth and nose with his hands is not recommended.
I do not remember the last time I saw a lavatory without soap in Japan.
http://bitesizebio.com/3933/does-hand-sanitizer-and-liquid-hand-soap-remove-viruses/
Hand soap, 0.67 Log 10=21% or 79% reduction
Just water, 0.58 Log 10=26% or 74% reduction
Not much difference.
Disillusioned
What a load of rot! Just for your information, most cold and flu viruses are spread by contact, not by airborne particles and, the virus usually enters the body through the eyes after touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes. Human saliva is naturally anti-bacterial. That recommendation by WHO was released during the SARS epidemic in the mid-2000's and was meant for all people.
kickboard
Good luck telling the korean masses that masks are useful. This is the country that brought us the myth that we'll die if we sleep in a closed room with the electric fan on.
Vernie Jefferies
When fear is on the rise, so are the profits.
Frungy
Chikv - I agree that the correct type of mask, correctly fitted, used for a limited time and then disposed of in the correct manner is a useful tool in controlling the spread of disease.
I think that HaroldBloodaxe's point is that none of the above apply for the way the vast majority of people use masks in Japan. They wear the wrong type, worn the wrong way (e.g. as a chin-strap), for too long, and then don't take care when removing or disposing of the mask.
In short, the way that almost all people in Japan use masks is largely useless. Its like expecting a condom worn on your hand to help prevent STDs. It might, by accident, be helpful, but in the vast majority of cases it won't be.
Disillusioned
There is a good reason these masks are called, dust masks. They do you some effect for dust particles like PM2.5 or even pollen, but they do nothing for viruses. In fact, the warm, moist well-ventilated area of the mask creates the perfect environment for viruses to live. According to WHO, for masks to be effective at stopping viruses they must be 12 ply surgical masks and changed every 20 minutes.
hampton
Harald, yep, largely because the cheap bits of gauze the Japanese use get wet in minutes and the sides are opened by coughing and sneezing. These masks give idiots the perception of containment, which helps spread the epidemics and makes the masks worse than useless. It is impossible to enforce hygiene, although recently a lot more stations have soap than used to, which is one recent positive. Most Japanese men won't use the soap even when it is there, which is something that has always baffled me. In the same way you can't stop idiots in soggy masks spreading germs throughout the subway, infecting people with their illnesses and feeling good about themselves for doing it. TIJ.
HaraldBloodaxe
Hampton, I think you have just provided us with the conclusive evidence with which to close this debate.
Do they offer a jot of protection against MERS-like viruses? No, of course they don't.
Can the public misconception that they are to disease what a crucifix is to vampire be manipulated? Yes it can.
If you're too socially maladjusted to let people see your face, bung one on. If you're planning to rob 40,000 from 7/11, one of these might help you to get away with it. If you wake up in a pile of tins at 5am, a mask and a packet of Clorets might help you to mutate your faux pas into a few brownie points, even give you the advantage over someone who came to work competent but without a mask.
But they are as much use as making the Sign of the Cross if you want to avoid catching a virus.
hampton
Harald, the masks do have some uses:
If you skive off work and pull a sickie, wearing a mask the next day covers you here. They block the smell of salary man fart to an extent. If you have an allergy, they cover the mucous, but you have to change them every 15 minutes or so as they get wet quick. You can eat mints while wearing a mask, which disguises hangovers.HaraldBloodaxe
Chimborazo, no, dear boy, I do not think that washing hands is useless. I wish there were some way to make your typical salaryman aware that touching the tips of your fingers to a sprinkle of water for an instant after using the toilet is sufficient to stop you smearing your germs over every door handle and keyboard you touch.
But that's going nowhere, because what happens in the bog isn't a public display of hygiene. Now, regardless of how desultory this same chap's hand-washing may be, if he then puts the same bit of soggy paper over his mouth as he's been coughing into all morning, he gets brownie points for taking care of his colleagues' health. Sadly, they've all been getting a different kind of brownie point from him every time they've used a door or banister.
Hand washing is something that ought to be as reflexive as not gobbling out phlegm onto the station platform (another nil points because it's done where your colleagues can't see you, so it doesn't count). But it isn't. My local train station doesn't even have soap in the gents. Hand washing would make a difference.
Cheap masks worn all day don't . They are the enabler of the socially inept and the convenience store slasher, and the security blanket of the easily duped. They do nothing to prevent epidemics, as evidenced by the epidemics we have here every single year.
Now give it a rest and go and have a gargle.
Elizabeth Heath
These paper masks do not stop the spread or airborne illnesses. Why do people think they do? In fact they are lovely breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses, and then the wearer touches it and has the said micro organisms on their fingers which they then pass on. Just wash your hands and stay at home if you are coughing and sneezing.
I hate those bloody masks.
hampton
The 10,000 yen versions probably do work, but should still only be worn once and for a maximum of one hour. The cheap bits of gauze worn here are useless as soon as someone coughs hard or sneezes, which is what these illnesses tend to cause. Unfortunately cheap mask manufacturers have convinced the Japanese that they work so well that they should all go to work with one on. They spread their germs through the subway system and anyone who accidentally rubs their eyes after touching a surface is infected. The epidemics happen every year because people decide to infect everyone with their illnesses by going to work when they are sick. The nation keeps up its silly pretence that cheap masks protect those around them, which is clearly an impossibility or there wouldn't be epidemics every year without fail. Cheap masks are worse then useless because of the false sense of security they create. Expensive masks worn properly would be effective, but no one wears those here. Most salary men on the train have 500 yen available for lunch. They certainly don't have 10,000 yen an hour spare for effective disease containment.
YongYang
@Luca: Yes it does: ウル
HaraldBloodaxe
Chikvi: and where do you stand on the disease prevention capabilities of wearing these totems on your chin?
Let me put this very simply for you:
If these things stop viruses being transmitted, why do we get an influenza epidemic here, every single year?
Once the announcement goes out that there's flu going round, there are masks on nearly every face on every train. Yet there is still an epidemic, no worse and no less severe than in Europe, where people prefer not to hide their faces behind magic gauze.
If these things worked, there wouldn't be just as severe an epidemic here as there is anywhere else. But there is. Every. Single. Year.
Ip so facto, they don't work.
QED.
Richard Burgan
Washing your hands and covering your cough and sneeze is far more effective than wearing a mask in public. I avoid talking to people who wear masks in public unless there is a good reason for them to wear a mask.
DaDude
Man, I remember a few years ago with the pig flu/H1N1 was going around and boxes of face masks were going on Yahoo Auction for up to 10000yen. From a business standpoint, it may be best to stock up now because panic will set in once the first MERS patient is discovered here.
lucabrasi
@Yong
"It's MERS as in purrs...."
Not in Japanese, it ain't. The sound doesn't exist.
SenseNotSoCommon
They're a huge disconnect from those around you.
A new client was a bit miffed when I insisted he take his off for our first consultation. He quickly appreciated, though, what a barrier it had been to communication with his staff and customers, and hasn't worn one since.
YongYang
The way MERS is spread... well, masks don't really help, washing hands and not touching your nose, mouth and eyes is much more effective.
And of course --this will never be picked up by the Japanese media but it'll make me feel better-- it is MERS as in purrs, not Mars, which is a planet or a candy bar.
cevin7
I use a surgical mask when I have contagious cold or something in order not to give it to anyone.
Also I like wearing it when it's winter because I can keep my nose warm with it.
Onsen
The real benefit of wearing a mask is that it prevents one from easily touching their own mouth or nose with their hands. The reason one is advised to wash their hands is that more often than not, it is through hand contact with an object like a handrail for example that can pickup germs/virus and such. The mechanism of infection is that these germs/virus get into the body, usually through a mucous membrane. Which is most simply done by fingers touching the mouth or nose. You would be surprised how often people touch their mouth or nose without realizing it. Rubbing your nose, wiping your mouth, that kind of thing. Oh, and picking your nose too! Wearing a mask is simply an extention of washing your hands.
smithinjapan
Same thing happened with SARS, only it was a lot worse. In any case, no, they do not help the spread of anything, save for people who like to sneeze without covering their mouths anyway. If someone with a mask has something -- a cold, the flu, MERS, or anything else -- there is a likelihood that they will spread it BECAUSE of the mask, not only because they should not be out if they are sick (but the mask is an excuse to go out, whether their own or others'), but because they are constantly touching and rearranging them, ensuring any germs in or on get on hands anyway.
They MIGHT be effective in warding off sickness to an extent, and again if people aren't constantly fidgeting with them, but even then it's doubtful.
sanjigen
They may not prevent but am thankful at those that wears them on the train especially when they cough alot.
darnname
If they're so useless, I guess everyone in operating rooms don't really need them...
kitzrow
There has been a definite increase in my classroom with students wearing surgical masks. I politely ask them to lower them when they are in my classroom as I often feel they are just masking some other situation. However, if there is a serious problem, I allow them to wear them. The increase is obvious!
onagagamo
No.
B.B.Q.Demon
@HaraldBloodaxe: You are exactly right.
HaraldBloodaxe
Are they effective? Short answer - no.
A doctor friend of mine describes trying to stop a virus with one of these masks as like trying to stop water with a fishing net.
What these masks do provide is a handy way for those who wish to hide their faces from society - be that because they're waving knives at convenience store clerks or just because they're morbidly shy - a cheap and easy method to do so.
They also serve as a way for employers to not allow staff to take a day off sick, and for those who seek brownie points to get a cheap "look-at-me-boss-I've come -in sick-because-I'm such-a-hard-worker" shot in.
There is a chap in my office who wears one on his chin three days a week. Not covering his mouth and nose, but on his chin. He says it steams hs glasses up if he wears it right, but isn't quite bold enough to take the next step of not bothering with a mask at all.
These things are useless, and used by the misinformed or the inept.
sf2k
Too bad washing hasn't increased by the same amount
Moonraker
As a fashion item I think the burqa has a real future in Japan.
sensei258
So masks are good at stopping spray/splashes going in either direction, but cannot stop aerosolized particles of the virus itself which is way smaller than the "weave" of the mask. There is a slight reduction of risk because some of the viruses will get stuck on the mask. Just don't touch the mask and then touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. And wash your hands after riding the bus or train. So many times I've witnessed (guys mostly) coughing or sneezing into their hand, and then grabbing the handle.