OREANDA-NEWS. American scientists conducted a study involving nearly three thousand medical professionals and found that cloth surgical masks protect from flu no worse than N95 respirators, which limit the inhalation of particles as small as 0.3 microns.

 The number of cases after wearing respirators was 8.2 percent and among those who wore surgical masks, 7.2 percent. The difference is not statistically significant, scientists have reported in JAMA.

"Physicians who work with infectious patients, are always in the danger zone. In order to reduce the percentage of inspired doctors, medical institutions used a variety of precautions. This disinfection, frequent cleaning, wearing masks and so on. In the US there is a special designed by experts FDA manual, which governs the wearing of masks and respirators in hospitals," says Lewis Radonovich Jr., author of the study about the effectiveness of cloth masks and respirators.