Face masks may protect you from staph bacteria According to a recent study, face masks appear to provide important protection against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.
According to a recent study, face masks appear to provide important protection against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tracked 101 hog farm workers and 79 household members for four months, taking nasal swabs and asking questions about face mask use.The findings of the study are published in the Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives. The researchers found that for workers who wore face masks consistently during the four-month study, witnessed a 50 to 70 percent reduction in the likelihood of finding dangerous, livestock-derived S. aureus strains in their swabs and household members appeared to be protected too.