Totobobo mask effective protection from smoke particles

This is a common question and there is no fixed answer.

In general, the filter should be replaced more frequent if it is used for virus or during a flu pandemic.
For anti-pollution purpose, the color of the filter give an indication of the remaining effectiveness. Therefore one can decide when to replace the filter based on the color of the filter.

Test on used filters from users from India, Vietnam, USA and Singapore shows that it is possible to use the color of the filters to determine, apporximately, the remaining effectiveness of the filters. These used filter samples coming from different countries, and different shades of grey is observed. It also show the relative level of air pollution, for example, 7 hours of use turns the filter almost black and the remaining effectiveness left only with 50%. On the other hands, 17 hours of use in California turns the filter to the second level of grey and still have 70% of effectiveness remain.

Totobobo filter color chart and remaining effectiveness

Depends on individual needs one can change the filter according to the remaining effectiveness. In any case, the filter should not be used for more than 14 days after removing the pack.

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Kayla with her Totobobo mask

There has been a lot of media attention to the swine flu vaccine lately. A third of parents oppose the idea of flu jab for their kids, according to a poll early this month. Parents are concerned about potential side effects. If many parents with healthy kids are concerned, one can imagine the stress on parents having kids with a medical condition. They certainly don’t want to take any chances.

In order to provide some protection while avoiding the vaccine, some parents found Totobobo mask when they are searching for a small fitting mask for their children. Some of these children are going through cancer treatments and therefore are vulnerable to airborne viruses or other pathogens. I notice one of these parents, Debbie Witter, actually put up a website called Free Help For Cancer to share her experience, including the frustration, learning and joys, of their journey searching for a better cure for Kayla, her 7 years old girl.

Let Debbie’s own words to explain her intend:

Our 7-year-old daughter, Kayla, was diagnosed with Leukemia on the 4th of January 2008. Suffice it to say that our lives were turned upside down by this devastating news. To make matters worse it soon became evident that there was no simple path to follow and no easy answers.

It is my hope that the information and discoveries I share on this website will lighten the burden for others who may be going through similar experiences. Please join us in our ongoing journey in dealing with this dreaded disease.

Love,
Debbie, Bill, and Kayla

Visit Free Help for Cancer Blog
The page that caught my attention: Flu Conclusions

Disclaimer: Consult your doctor before letting your children to use a fitting mask. Totobobo mask is not NIOSH certified.

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Visitors from India keep coming in, there is no sign of slowing down. How do they come to us? A significant proportion of them are coming from the search engines (Google, Yahoo or Bing).
The search terms reflect what they are looking for. Quite a number of visitors are searching for reusable N95 mask.
For example:
- How to keep N95 mask clean
- N95 mask washable
- is N95 mask reusable or not
- for how long N95 mask be used
- N95 washable mask

Clearly there is a market looking for reusable N95 mask, unfortunetely such product does not exist. In fact a 3 months study in 2006 concluded that it is not possible to decontaminate used N95 mask and allows it to be reused safely.

On the contrary Totobobo mask is easily clean and reusable. The anti-virus property makes reuse safer. There are two types of filters available: 94% and 96%. The 96% filter is 1% more protective than N95. The high quality reusable mask combine with economic replaceable filter refill is probably the most advanced protection you can get now. Thanks to Google/ Yahoo and Bing for doing a good job in guiding our visitors.

Snap shot of the search terms of the visitors

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Recently we travel to Taiwan and Hong Kong. To be on the safe side we all put on our Totobobo mask on the plane and in the airport. Who knows the one sitting next to you can be coming from a H1N1 flu infected country? This was the “acid test” to see if the mask really work in the context of air travel.

I’ve customized the masks for the two boys and Sharon in advance. So that part is not an issue. Putting it on was easy for Sharon and the younger boy, but it was confusing for the elder one. It turn out that the strap of his mask got entangled a bit and he couldn’t slide the strap along easily. I help him to remove the rubber band and disentangle the strap. He mange to put it on afterward.

A point to note about customization, it is not always true that smaller face need smaller mask. If it fit and seal well, a larger Totobobo mask is usually more comfortable to wear. So if you find the mask too big, start by trimming it a step, never jump to the smallest size immediately. You may find an intermediate size that seal very well and is comfortable to wear even for a long time.

Wearing the mask for an hour or so is not uncomfortable. In fact we pretty much forgot about it because it didn’t interfere with what we do. We all wear glasses, sometimes we read magazine, sometimes we watch TV and sometimes I was busy taking photos

We had to remove our masks when the food came. We just remove the top strap, pull the mask down such that the contracted top strap now keeps the mask closed, and we just let the mask hang around our neck while eating. We put the mask back after the meal. The elder son fall asleep and the younger one kept watching TV.

I noticed many passenger used surgical masks. One family of three used N95 cup-shaped mask. But the huge N95 mask was not fitting the child and clearly he was not getting much more protection than those wearing surgical mask.

Some curious passenger ask where we got the mask from and even the stewards are interested in it. The surgical mask they wear is not giving them the protection they really need. It’s a pity that they have to face so many people from all over the world during the trip but not getting the protection they deserved. Anyone with friends working as air steward? Perhaps you should let them know about Totobobo.

Leaving the plane, we took off our mask when we were shopping in the airport shops, there seems to be more space between people and none of the staff or customers looked sick. Keeping it hanging around the neck was most appropriate because we needed to put on the mask again when we go through the next risk spot- the crowded custom.

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News release
(Singapore, 4 May 2009) – As swine flu (H1N1) continues to spread, young children are at greater risk because of the lack of child-friendly respiratory masks. The customisable child-friendly Totobobo mask offers parents a reassuring solution and is seeing strong demand from around the world.

Totobobo mask fit children with small face size

The patented Totobobo mask was created by product designer Francis Chu to meet the need for children respiratory protection. Made from ‘Totosoft’, a custom-blend soft plastic formulated using FDA approved sources, the mask is also equipped with two powerful German filters. The mask can be trimmed to fit children as young as five-years-old. Parents can see through the transparent mask and double check if it fits their child snuggly and leaving no gaps.

For a mask to be effective, it has to fit the face snuggly, so that airborne viruses cannot seep through any gaps. Children wearing adult-sized respiratory masks, whether NIOSH-certified or not would be exposed to contaminated air due to the ill fit.

normal N95 mask does not fit children

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the USA tests and certifies respiratory devices on the market such as the current standard N95 masks. This test is however only conducted on adults. The certification determines the filtration efficiency and does not guarantee how well the masks fit. All NIOSH-certified respiratory masks like the current N95 are fixed sizes and do not come in smaller sizes for children.

In 2003, when SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) first broke out, Francis himself a parent of two, got first-hand experience of the anxiety of a parent concerned about his children’s safety. His children were only six and eight-years-old at the time and he could not find a mask that would fit their small faces.

“I felt hopeless knowing that my children were in imminent danger if they go into crowded public space like schools or playgrounds and that I could not do anything about it.”
“The sense of threat prompt me into looking for a design solution that will fit all face shapes including children.” explains Francis.

The customisable Totobobo respiratory mask that Francis eventually created, after experimenting with hundreds of prototypes, fits both adult and child. Its soft and light material (only 20grams) makes it less irritable for children who might find it uncomfortable wearing a normal mask.

“I believe that I was thinking from a parent’s perspective during the design process and that pushed me harder to make the mask as practical as possible. I am just happy knowing that with the child-friendly Totobobo mask, parents now have a practical way to better assured of their children’s safety,” adds Francis.

Related:
Time for a better mask to protect children
Parent testimonial

Purchase Totobobo mask

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“Rohan is glad that the dirt is collected on the filter, not in his lung.”

used filter (200km) vs new

Rohan Kini, an online bicycle shop owner in Bangalore, India, was testing a new pollution mask. After 200 km of bicycling in the city, he was very impressed with the performance of a new mask call TOTOBOBO from Singapore and decided to carry it in his shop.

The air pollution in London is nowhere near Bangalore standards. However, riding in heavy traffic can damage the respiratory system. The question is: How does one know if a pollution mask is needed or not?

The latest TOTOBOBO mask won’t be able to tell that in advance. But you can be pretty sure when it does the job – simply by checking out the color of the filters. The filter will turn into a distinguish dirty gray to signal that it’s time to change the filters.

The mask is ergonomically designed to fit the majority of faces, from adult down to children of age 5! The secret is in a world’s first “customizable” feature which allows you to trim the mask smaller if it is too big for you.

This reusable, flat folding little gadget may just be the right thing to keep in your pocket when you brave the urban traffic.

more:  BumOnTheSaddle

PS. Totobobo filter use special electro-static charge to collect even sub-micron dust.

TOTOBOBO and cycling

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    Totobobo mask was spotted in NIOSH NO-FIT-TEST workshop page

I was surpriced when my friend show me this page in CDC site. NIOSH, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health under CDC, is the US organization who certify the well known N95 mask. What made TOTOBOBO, a little known Singapore invention of respirator mask, appears in this heavy weight website?

No, TOTOBOBO is not certified by NIOSH, at least not yet. The picture of an early version of TOTOBOBO mask found in the NIOSH website is to serve as an inspirational example for a “No Fit Test” filtering facepiece respirator workshop. The workshop will be conducted in Nov. 6 later this year and the objective is:

“To better understand the interdisciplinary research needs and challenges in developing and certifying a universal “no-fit-test” filtering-facepiece respirator”

I think this is totally appropriate and it shows NIOSH recgonize the need to improve the current procedure in order to motivate manufacturers to innovate toward the direction of “No fit test” respirator. 

Why is this big fuss about “No fit Test”?

If you read carefully the fine text of your respirator instruction, you will notice a statement similar to this:

“Before use of this respirator, a written respiratory protection program must be implemented meeting all the requirements of OSHA 29 CFR 1910,134 such as training, fit testing, medical evaluation, and applicable OSHA substance specific standards.” 

The simple fact is, the rated protection value will be drastically reduced if the mask does not fit your face, and there is no other ways to tell except by doing a fit-test. Buying a mask is easy, but getting a mask fit-tested on each individual is a challenge. In emergency situation like flu pandemic or haze outbreak, it is simply not possible to get everyone a fit tested at once. 

One can start to sense the “pain of fit test” and how touchy this issue is from the following comment in one of the NIOSH science blog :

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Hopeful to see Fit-Test to be lifted- Edward Hernandez, City of Hialeah, Fire Rescue says:- Thank you for proposing a study as this. For a while now this OSHA (Fit-test) requirement  has been a burden to our Fire/EMS service.

Hopeful to see Fit Test to be simplified-Peggie Reinhardt, RN BSN, says:

I would be interested in this study, we currently fit test our employees annually. If this process could be shortened or redesigned so that it was easier to do would help tremendously.

Fighting to keep Fit-Test in organization- Sgt. Julie Love says:

I would be interested in being part of this study on the law enforcement side. We fit test our officers annually but many departments do not. Law Enforcment traditionally has fallen down in this area as many agencies just give their officers their masks without any fit testing. We also fight the battle with our management with what is mandated.

Worry that No-Fit-Test= Not Safe-Kevin MacDonald says:

 I am concerned that changing the fit test frequency while cost effective may defeat its overall purpose. when fit testing went from every 6 months to one year as a requirement of OSHA it was a step back.

Confused and concern-Kelly Russell says:

I am glad this study is being done. Respiratory fit testing is expensive for employers and it will be good to have a current answer when asked why we have to do the testing so often….or maybe not so often as the case may be.

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No matter what, the setting up of this workshop itself is already a breakthrough, and we are definitively happy to be associate with the solution side of the problem. We hope the result of the workshop will bring more practical innovation into the design and certification of respirator, especially taking people like housewife and children who don’t have access to fit-test equipment but also deserved to have good protection when situation come.

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“Totobobo is far superior to any other mask on the market. Period!””

7 years old Kayla wearing Totobobo mask

“After the Chemo Kayla is still immune compromised. This mask is our safety net that has proven its workability.
When Kayla did not have the mask and went to school she ended up in the hospital for two weeks, every month, for three months, totaling 45 days. With the mask -no sickness, no hospitalizations, no colds, nothing.
Your mask is far superior to any other mask on the market. Period! ”

- Debbie Witte, Kayla’s mum @ www.freehelpforcancer.com

Debbie known that her daughter Kayla needed proper respiratory protection if she wanted to play with other children. Kayla tried all sorts of masks: surgical masks, N95 masks but none of these work. Due to her compromised immune system after the Chemo-therapy, Keyla fall sick easily time after she play with other kids. Undefeated, Debbie continued to search. One day, a Google search led her to the Totobobo mask. After studied the website, she decided to give it a go. Much to her delight, the Totobobo masks works!

Filter + Face seal = good protection
The principle of how Totobobo mask work is simple: Isolation (good seal) and filtering.

Good protection = good seal + good filter

“Good protection is built on two factors: a good filter and a good seal“.

Surgical mask is not good enough

You may have seen news on TV that many school kids in Asia wearing surgical masks during the SARS. But the fact is surgical mask was not designed to prevent air-borne contamination. There are gaps from both sides that virus can bypass the mask easily.

Surgical mask is designed to protect nurses or surgeons from contaminated blood splash during an operation. In Japan it is commonly used to reduce the risk of spreading the flu virus from the wearers when they are sick. The protection value of surgical mask from air borne virus is a big question mark.

N95 mask effectiveness: fit-testing is a problem

Respirator (e.g. N95 mask), on the other hand, is designed to protect the wearer from air borne virus. This is only possible if the respirator is making a good seal on your face such that air have to go through the filter before entering the breathing zone. However a proper fit-test can only be conducted by a trained specialist with special equipment, which is simply too complicated for the public.

Manufacturer come up with “user seal check” which typically involve blocking the filter and blow into the mask while wearing it. To feel that if there is any air leak from gaps around the mask. But such practice is questioned by a study from the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. The study suggested there is 25% of failure rate when trained users apply the standard “User seal check”. The standard user seal check recommended by most manufacturers is just too ambiguous and unreliable. “It’s usefulness as a pre-use test must be questioned”, the report concluded.

Another study “Respiratory Donning in Post-Hurricane New Orleans” (US CDC, May 2007) found 76% participants were not able to demonstrate proper donning for a good seal and their protection has been compromised.

TOTOBOBO mask improve user seal check by 25%

Main features of TOTOBOBO mask

When looking for a respirator to protect his kids, Francis Chu, the inventor of TOTOBOBO mask, encountered the same frustration as Debbie. He became aware of the many difficulties faced by parents and determined to come up with a better solution. He applied his expertise in product design and experimented with hundreds of prototypes. Finally he came up with an ergonomic design that fits most people and can be customized to fit children.
He understand that beyond a good seal and good filter, other issues like comfort, cleaning, reuse, portability are all important factors need to be addressed before the mask can be considered as “Child Friendly”.

Following is a summary of the issues and respective solutions embedded in Totobobo:

PROBLEMS………………………………….. SOLUTIONS

Children’s face size varies …….…….. Trim it to fit small faces

Hard to determine a good seal …… VSC Visual Seal Check makes it easy

Difficult to disinfect (for reuse) …… Anti-virus mask easy to clean and safer to reuse

Children’s skin is delicate………… FDA approved, non allergic soft material
……
Not easy to carry………………..…………. light weight, folded flat

Parents and school teachers from different parts of the world have discovered the new solution for their children. If you are looking for an effective mask to protect your child, TOTOBOBO is exactly what your are looking for!

“It is the only mask out there that fits my boy and give him adequate protection.”
- Bob Williams, Knoxville , USA

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Totobobo mask Family pack = $120

4 x original Totobobo mask with 50 pairs of 94% filters. Limited time offer. Save $35!

This package contains 4 Totobobo masks + 50 filter pairs (96%), great for respiratory protection for the whole family.

Each mask can be customized to fit individual family member, from children as young as 5 years old to adult. The 96% filters provide extra protection. They are individually sealed in plastic and can be shared amongst all family members.

Read more about TOTOBOBO mask for children :

The best fitting mask for children

Say no to pollution in school buses

Time for a better mask for children

Protect children from incense smoke

Transparent mask make easy seal check

How to’s

How to customize TOTOBOBO mask for your children?

How to wash TOTOBOBO mask for reuse?

How to check the mask-to-face-seal without fit-test equipment?

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