I have been looking at getting some face masks for both my EDC and home kits mainly as a protection against smoke and dust, and was going to get some N95 face masks. Having just got back from seeing the movie Contagion (it was excellent!) I am now thinking I might want to upgrade the masks.

For those that don't know this movie, there is a rather nasty virus being spread around the world that has flu like symptoms but kills. The virus is spread by directly touching a carrier, and also touching a surface a carrier has previously touched (a mobile phone, an ATM, a pole on a bus etc). The virus was also airborne.

It made me wonder what sort of masks would provide protection from such a virus (obviously gloves would also be needed) but be suitable for EDC, and suitable for a home kit? If you are getting a mask with separate filters, how many filters would you need? Without getting a full on biological safe suit, what could you get to help in this kind of situation?

You do realize the movie is fiction, right? Hollywood is not very good when it comes to "factual" and "accurate."

I have not seen the movie but I have seen the premises of the movie.

I have two thoughts on it. The first being that if there were such an outbreak by the time it hit the news, it could literally be too late. But let’s think positively and assume you were not exposed thus far. If you were not exposed, you would need a filter that could clean out this virus. I am not 100% sure there is a filter that would do that.

But even a low quality mask will prevent you from touching your nose and mouth witch I believe that contingent was being spread by touch mostly (noting the trailer witch stated that the average person touches there face 20 times a minuet.)

And glasses or sunglasses that wrap around your eyes will help prevent you from touching your eyes.

Ahh yes...the germaphobe's nightmare.

It's the same as with any communicable virus (cold, flu, etc). Protect your eyes, mouth and nose.

The ridiculous Dr.No get-up that Jude Law was wearing is probably a bit overboard. The most I would venture to carry against such a scenario is a N95 and a pair of goggles or safety glasses.

Anyone remember "The Stand"? Same concept, until King goes off the deep end with good v evil.

Actually, the details about the virus and the progression of the pandemic, the difficulty creating a vaccine, how the CDC goes about investigating outbreaks by sending people out to interview sick people, etc. was all quite realistic and scientifically accurate.

Some of the plot elements involving people's actions/reactions seemed a bit quirky, but they do symbolize the quirkiness in various segments in human society. Jude Law's character represents a large segment of society, much of which we saw during the H1N1 incident not long ago. The doctor who injects herself with the experimental vaccine sybolizes our frustration with the reality of how long it takes to develop vaccines doing it the correct way. Laurence Fishburne telling his fiance to get out of Dodge shows that even the experts on the front lines fighting the pandemic are human beings. And so on.

The only face masks approved for pandemic use by the public that I am aware of so far are 3M Particulate Respirators 8670F and 8612F. They were approved a few years ago. They are similar to other soft respirators you might see doctors and nurses wearing around sick people, although the packaging and instructions are geared towards the general public.

However, think about how long the pandemic is going to last. In Contagion, it was, what? Months? That's potentially a ton of masks that would needed if you were out and about much. You could easily need several a day if you followed the instructions to the letter.

It will be very difficult to avoid being exposed to any new killer flu bug. Even with a respirator, if it's not worn correctly, or you're not 100% careful, and you touch something and then touch your eye--all too easy to be exposed. Physically trying to prevent exposure in only one layer of defense. Social isolation is the other readily available counter-measure.

There was a piece in the LA Times discussing at length the implausibilities presented in the film.

Just wash your hands, folks....

On the other hand, Halloween is coming, and you could give your biohazard suit a field test. You will stand out from a crowded field of Draculas.

Seems like the added instructions are really the only thing that differentiates these masks from other N95 masks. If you have something that meets the N95 rating and you know how to wear it, when to replace it and how to dispose of it, that meets your NEED. A WANT may include more comfortable straps, exhaust valve, etc. Anything else is just disposable money.

We do have a similar real world example, not for vaccine development, but to prove that Helicobacter pylori was the major cause of duodenal/gastric ulcers. Dr. Barry Marshall infected himself to prove that H. pylori were the primary cause of Peptic Ulcer Disease thus fulfilling Koch’s Postulates and eventually shared a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his efforts.

1985
Marshall publishes the results of self-induced infection.

Marshall, Barry (2002). "The discovery that Helicobacter pylori, a spiral bacterium, caused peptic ulcer disease". In Barry J. Marshall. Helicobacter pioneers: firsthand accounts from the scientists who discovered helicobacters, 1892–1982. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 165–202. ISBN 0-86793-035-7.

Dr. Barry Marshall: Nobel Prize