Setting PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21330321 with influenza-like illness (ILI) protects effectively contacts from infection. Techniques Design An RCT was carried out in fever clinics in six significant hospitals in two districts of Beijing, China. The fever clinics are outpatient departments for the assessment and treatment of febrile sufferers. The recruitment of participants was started on 18 November 2013 and completed on 20 January 2014. Adults who attended the fever clinic had been screened by hospital staff to identify if they have been eligible for the study. A study employees member approached eligible patients once they presented inside the clinic and invited them to participate in the study. Recruited individuals meeting the case definition of ILI (see under) have been known as index instances, which was the first case in a prospective chain of infection transmission. Eligibility Patients aged 18 years and older (index cases) with ILI (defined as fever 38 plus a single respiratory symptom including cough, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or sneezes) who attended a fever outpatient clinic throughout the study period, had no history of ILI amongst household members within the prior 14 days and who lived with at the least two other people today at home had been recruited for the study. ILI was utilised as a choice criterion to attain higher specificity for index instances. Sufferers who were unable or refused to provide consent, had onset of two symptoms 24 hours before recruitment, had been admitted to hospital, SC1 custom synthesis resided in a household with 2 other individuals, or had other ill household members at house had been excluded from the study. Randomisation Just after providing informed consent, 245 index circumstances have been incorporated and randomly allocated to intervention (mask) and control (no-mask) arms. A study team member (YZ) performed the random allocation sequence utilizing Microsoft Excel and medical doctors enrolled the participants randomly to intervention and handle arms. Sufferers had an equal likelihood to be in the either intervention or manage arm. One hundred and twenty-three index cases and 302 household contacts had been incorporated in the mask (source control) arm and 122 index situations and 295 household contacts had been incorporated inside the control arm (figure 1). Situations and their household contacts were assigned together as a cluster to either the intervention or control arm. Intervention The mask or no-mask intervention was applied towards the index cases and respiratory illness was measured in household contacts. Index instances ( patients with ILI) within the intervention arm wore a healthcare mask at dwelling. Index instances have been asked to put on a mask (3M 1817 surgical mask) anytime they have been in the identical area as a household member or possibly a visitor for the household. They were allowed to get rid of their masks for the duration of meal occasions and when asleep. Index situations were shown ways to wear the mask and instructed to wash their hands when donning and doffing the mask. Index circumstances had been supplied withFigure 1 Consort diagram of recruitment and follow-up.MacIntyre CR, et al. BMJ Open 2016;six:e012330. doi:10.1136bmjopen-2016-Open Access masks per day for 7 days (21 masks in total). They had been informed that they could cease wearing a mask after their symptoms resolved. Index cases in the manage arm didn’t get any intervention. Mask use by other household members was not necessary and not reported. Outcome measures Respiratory illness outcomes have been measured in household contacts from the index cases. Key end points measured in household contacts integrated: (1) clinical respiratory illness (CRI), defined as two or extra resp.