Purpose
To investigate bacterial dispersion with patient face mask use during simulated intravitreal injections.
Design
Prospective cross-sectional study
MethodsSetting
Single-center
Study Population
Fifteen healthy subjects were recruited
Intervention
Each participant was instructed not to speak for 2-minutes, simulating a “no-talking” policy, while in an ophthalmic examination chair with an blood agar plate secured to the forehead and wearing various face masks (no mask, loose fitting surgical mask, tight-fitting surgical mask without tape, tight-fitting surgical mask with adhesive tape securing the superior portion of the mask, N95 mask, and cloth mask). Each scenario was then repeated while reading a 2-minute script, simulating a talking patient.
Main Outcome Measures
Number of colony-forming units (CFU) and microbial species.
Results
During the “no-talking” scenario, subjects wearing a tight-fitting surgical mask with tape developed fewer CFUs compared to subjects wearing the same mask without tape (difference, 0.93CFU; 95%CI, 0.32–1.55;
P
=.003). During the speech scenarios, subjects wearing a tight-fitting surgical mask with tape had significantly fewer CFUs compared to subjects without a face mask (difference, 1.07CFU;
P
=.001), subjects with a loose face mask (difference, 0.67;
P
=.034), and subjects with a tight face mask without tape (difference, 1.13;
P
<.001). There was no difference between those with a tight-fitting surgical mask with tape and an N95 mask in the “no-talking” (
P
>.99) and “speech” (
P
=.831) scenarios. No oral flora was isolated in “no-talking” scenarios, but was isolated in 8/75 (11%) cultures in speech scenarios (
P
=.02).
Conclusion
Addition of tape to the superior portion of a patient’s face mask reduced bacterial dispersion during simulated intravitreal injections, and had no difference in bacterial dispersion compared to wearing N95 masks.
This prospective study was aimed to detect acute and chronic ocular toxoplasmosis by comparison of anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM and IgG antibody levels and IgG avidity test. One hundred and seventeen patients with ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) who referred to the Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran, Iran were included in this study. Of the patients, 77 cases were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG, and 8 cases were positive for anti-T. gondii IgM. IgG avidity test revealed 11, 4, and 102 cases were low, intermediate, and high, respectively, and 6.8% and 9.4% of cases were positive for IgM and IgG avidity tests, respectively (P=0.632). Agreement (Kappa value) between paired tests IgG-IgM, IgG-IgG avidity, and IgM-IgG avidity was 0.080, 0.099, and 0.721, respectively (P<0.05). This study showed that conventional serologic tests (IgM and IgG levels) and IgG avidity correlate well each other and can be used to differentiate recent infections from old OT. It seems that reactivated old infections rather than recently acquired infections are majority of Iranian OT patients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.