The researchers are currently busy studying if a widespread use of masks will help, or harm, during the next worldwide flu outbreak. AP quotes Dr. Michael Bell, a CDC infection-control expert as saying, "We don't want people wearing them willy-nilly. The overall recommendation really is to avoid exposure."
The situations under which a person can consider wearing a simple surgical mask includes going to a crowded place even if you are healthy, or when you're sick and think you may have close contact with the healthy family member checking on you.
Another situation that makes it mandatory for you to wear a mask includes living with someone who's sick and thus might be in the early stages of infection, but still need to go out.
CDC experts also stressed on wearing a more expensive, better-filtering mask called an N95 respirator when you are healthy and taking care of a sick person. However, the experts have cautioned that the mask only provides basic protection and people should adhere to other norms like hand washing and avoiding contact with people who have respiratory infections.
Researchers believe that pandemic flu can strike when the easy-to-mutate flu virus shifts to a strain that cannot be treated. Though it's very difficult to predict when the next pandemic will arrive, there is a raising concern that the Asian bird flu might be responsible for it.
Hence scientists conclude that though the masks can help trap virus-laden droplets flying through the air with a cough or sneeze, it is still not clear if they are able to protest against large droplets.
