CDC issues guidance on decontaminating filtering facepiece respirators

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health today issued guidance on decontaminating disposable filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) for reuse during times of contingency and crisis capacity.

CDC does not recommend that FFRs be decontaminated and then reused as standard care but rather as an option that may need to be considered when FFR shortages exist.

The guidance includes crisis standards-of-care decontamination recommendations for the following methods:

• Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation
• Vaporous hydrogen peroxide
• Moist heat

Because these three methods are the most promising potential methods to decontaminate FFRs, CDC said that “researchers, decontamination companies, health care systems, or individual hospitals should focus current efforts on these technologies.” The agency also notes that steam treatment and liquid hydrogen peroxide also are promising methods, with some limitations.