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World Health Organization guidelines for protection of healthcare workers from influenza recommend standard droplet precautions — including surgical masks — except during aerosolizing procedures, when N95 respirators should be used. Researchers performed a literature review to determine whether this recommendation is evidence based and identified 21 studies of respiratory protection in healthcare settings and 25 laboratory studies of the devices' filtering efficiency. Clinical studies evaluated transmission of respiratory syncytial virus, Bordetella pertussis, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Reviewers rated only one clinical study as high quality.
Three studies that evaluated surgical masks reported protection when masks were u…