ijcmcr International Journal of Clinical & Medical Case Reports 2834-250X International Journal of Clinical & Medical Case Reports Case report Case Report of Microbial Contamination on N95 Masks Used by Health Care Workers Seo Hyekyung College of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Shinhan University, Uijeongbu-City, Gyeonggi-Do, Republic of Korea 18 10 2024 6 1 02102024 10102024 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by International Journal of Clinical & Medical Case Reports. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0).

The prevalence of pandemics, such as COVID-19 transmitted through the respiratory system, is a serious global public health concern. Microbial contamination of face masks used by healthcare workers may vary depending on the degree of exposure to bioaerosol in various healthcare environments; however, data on this topic are limited. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the microbial contamination of N95 masks used in hospital offices, wards, and outpatient settings. Total indoor airborne bacteria were also measured in healthcare environments. The samples isolated from N95 masks worn for 2, 4, or 6 h were incubated at a temperature of 35–37 °C or 25–28 °C for 24 h or 3–7 days, and colony-forming units were counted in chocolate agar, tryptic soy agar, and Sabouraud dextrose agar plates. Finally, microbial species were identified using the morphological analysis with Gram staining. The results showed that the three types of environments did not deviate from maintenance of standard indoor air quality. The numbers of bacteria in the masks worn in each environment differed, while the degree of contamination increased with mask-wearing time (p

Healthcare Workers N95 Masks Microbial Contamination Biological Hazard