People are in the belief that wearing of facemasks may be beneficial for the health and prevent the people from diagnosing with respiratory diseases. One should bear in mind that it is a wrong understanding.
If you came to know about any viruses that are spreading in your locality, the first thing you will do is wearing a facemask in order to protect yourself against the disease.
It became popular in several countries, now the high need for facemasks is in china as they are fighting with a deadly virus. Firstly, people use to wear these facemasks in order to protect against high pollution levels.
Virologists, who treat the people with infectious diseases have still doubted regarding these facemasks whether they can help a person against airborne viruses.
But there is proof that wearing facemasks can prevent diseases that transmit to humans through hand and mouth.
In the late Eighteenth Century, Surgical Masks had been introduced in hospitals but people were not aware of it during that time. People started wearing these facemasks due to the Sudden occurrence of Spanish flu in the year 1919, which killed more than 50 million people.
As per the medical expert’s point of view, Surgical masks may not give you protection against airborne viruses. But they will protect you from the virus which transmits through a sneeze or a cough.
New South Wales conducted a study in the year 2016, and many medical students are participated in this study and the researchers observed their face-touching behavior via videotape recording. People touched their faces about twenty-three times an hour.
As per the professor’s point of view at the University of Nottingham, “Surgical masks work well against the influenza infection” and the researchers conducted this experiment in a hospital.
Respirators, which is having a specialized air filter, specially designed to fight with the potentially hazardous airborne particles.
However, if you look into the studies and evaluating the effectiveness in the general population, the facts are less interesting and that too, it will be difficult for a person to wear the facemask for such a long time.
A doctor from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, told to reporters that “Executing and following simple hygiene measures” will show more positive results.
Make sure that you are covering your mouth while sneezing, washing your hands after every activity that you do with it, and also washing your hand before putting it into your mouth is also a preventive measure and it will help you to not catch any respiratory virus.
The National Health Service suggesting people do some things in order to avoid catching viruses. These include
- Make a habit of washing your hands regularly with warm water and soap
- Avoid making contact with your eyes and nose
- Follow a Healthy diet and hitting the gym regularly will help you to stay positive
If you want your facemask to work perfectly for you, wear it properly and change it frequently. Instead of depending on the facemask, it is better to maintain good hand hygiene and stay home if you are in a polluted area.