A clinical trial has shown that face masks can protect against respiratory illnesses such as flu and the common cold.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and the Medical Research Council Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College London ran a clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of masks. They found that adults who wore masks in the home were four times less likely than non-wearers to be infected by children in the household with a respiratory infection.

"In a severe influenza pandemic, there may be limited availability of vaccines in the first few months," said Professor Neil Ferguson, Director of the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College London and an author on the study. "In that context, masks are a potentially important additional weapon in the public health arsenal."
 

The researchers say the findings have global implications and are particularly relevant to efforts to combat the spread of flu pandemics and other emerging respiratory diseases such as swine flu.