Face Masks Reduce the Release of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cough Aerosols when Worn for Clinically-Relevant Time Periods.

We recruited 25 people with CF and chronic P. aeruginosa infection (6) from the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre, The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. Ten healthy volunteers were recruited from hospital and research staff to assess mask comfort and mask weight change. All participants performed up to five randomly ordered tests in a validated cough system (7): uncovered cough, coughing with surgical mask worn for 10 minutes, coughing with surgical mask worn for 20 minutes, coughing with surgical mask worn for 40 minutes, and coughing with N95 mask worn for 20 minutes (3, 7). The N95 test was an optional test based on the poor comfort ratings observed in our earlier mask study (3).