An increase in demand for N95 masks is leading a team of researchers to see if face masks can be decontaminated. 

Researchers with the University of Manitoba and Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory say they have identified a sterilization technique that could allow N95 face masks to be sterilized up to 10 times.

Dr. Anand Kumar, the project's lead author, says that there is a heavy demand for N95 masks and that he has been exploring decontamination methods with his team since mid-March.

“Medical masks are used by health-care workers, with the N95 providing the best protection against tiny aerosol particles that carry the novel coronavirus," Kumar says. "Our team wanted to explore how different brands and models of N95s responded to standard hospital sterilization technologies in an attempt to identify safe options for their reuse in the event of supply shortages.”

The team explored three other methods but autoclaving allowed the mask's integrity and function to remain intact longer and is available in North America.

Autoclaving, a sterilization method that requires high heat and steam, has been proven to be the most effective for the researchers.

The team will be sharing their research with the broader medical community to be assessed.

“Many institutions in highly-affected regions of the world are running out of these masks and others are rationing so that health-care workers must make use of the same masks for long periods which can lead to mask failure and increased risk to the worker,” Kumar says.

While the research has not yet been peer-reviewed or published, the researchers hope that their work will help keep front-line workers protected against COVID-19.