Extended use, reuse of PPE linked to more self-contamination, study finds

A pilot study found self-contamination was less likely with single-use personal protective equipment than with extended use and extended reuse. The researchers, who presented results at the Infectious Disease Week 2025 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, compared contamination rates with surrogate markers among 100 health care workers wearing single-use, extended-use and extended-use with reuse PPE at one of four hospitals. A significantly higher percentage of samples had fluorescence on the hands of those wearing extended use PPE (62%-69%) and extended-use PPE with reuse (56%-76%) compared with those wearing single-use PPE (17%-41%). The workers were placed in one of six cohorts for a four-hour shift. Each group wore either a surgical mask or N95 mask for single use, extended use or extended use and reuse. (MedScape article, 10/22/25)