Fig. 1
Effects of temperature and humidity on the viability of bacteria inoculated on the face masks. Effects of temperature on bacterial viability on the (A) inner layer and (B) outer layer of face mask pieces inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus and on the (C) inner layer and (D) outer layer of the face mask pieces inoculated with S. epidermidis at 37 °C, 45 °C, and 55 °C (60% humidity) for 7 h. (E) Effect of humidity on the viability of S. aureus inoculated on the inner layer of face mask pieces and incubated at 37 °C at 60% humidity (low) or 95% humidity (high) for 7 and 24 h. N.D.: not detected. Control: inoculum suspended in phosphate-buffered saline in microtubes. Tukey–Kramer test, p < 0.05 (significant difference between upper- and lowercase letters). *p < 0.05 vs. 0 h and #p < 0.05 vs. 7 h. CFU: colony-forming unit.
