In order to effectively protect from dangerous infectious agents, as well as coronavirus, the scientists of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil national medical university (Ukraine) developed a unique prototype of a mobile respiratory protection system with positive airflow - pneumatic helmet.
Aim: To evaluate the bacterial permeability of the proposed concept model of the pneumohelmet in full and partial configuration.
Materials and methods: With a generating device (compressor inhaler) an aerosol is created from bacterial suspension, which is directed to the inlet of the personal protective respiratory equipment. The outlet is directed at a Petri dish with meat-peptone broth. Evaluation of bacterial contamination is performed by calculating the colony-forming units by multiplying the indicator by the degree of dilution. The study is repeated with a partial configuration of the pneumatic helmet - the presence of only external, only internal filter or not using any filter components.
Results: The growth of Micrococcus luteus colonies on the placed nutrient medium when using the proposed conceptual model of the pneumatic helmet in full configuration was not obtained. Removal of the inner filter did not lead to a violation of the effectiveness of antibacterial protection, as bacteria were detected only on the outer side of filter No.2. The use of a conceptual model without filters made it possible to detect colonies of Micrococcus luteus on the medium and components of the device with the calculation of colony forming units in 3- and 4-fold dilutions. During 24 hours of operation, the bacterial load on the surface of the external filter increased significantly. However, no signs of malfunction of the pneumatic helmet were detected.
Conclusions: The given results confirm the ability of the pneumatic helmet to counteract the penetration of bacteria from the environment during 6, 12, 24 hours of continuous operation. The protection was preserved even with partial configuration, which indicates the presence of a margin of reliability of this system.
Keywords: Micrococcus luteus; antibacterial protection; laminar air supply; personal respiratory protective equipment; pneumatic helmet.
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