High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filters (HEPA): Filter Respirators May Increase Protection Against Nosocomial Transmission of Tuberculosis, but at What Cost?

Abstract

Abstract from Literature

SYNOPSIS: TWO recent cost-effectiveness analyses suggest that the use of HEPA filter masks—mandated in recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines—are an extremely costly method offering only marginal improvement over previously employed techniques of tuberculosis prevention.

SOURCES: Nettleman M et al.: Tuberculosis control strategies: the cost of particulate respirators. Ann Intern Med 1994;121:37–40. Adal KA et al.: The use of high-efficiency particulate air-filter respirators to protect hospital workers from tuberculosis. New Engl J Med 1994;331:169–73.