Fig 1.
Balancing protection and heat strain: Typical non-protective clothing allows for thermoregulation and heat dissipation; while protective clothing impedes heat exchange to the environment.
Fig 2.
Five currently used levels of personal protective clothing by healthcare workers in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Table 1.
Individual sizes modeled and associated metabolic rates and MET.
Table 2.
Ensemble thermal and evaporative resistance measures at 0.4 m/s.
Fig 3.
Predicted rise in core body temperature of average size person (1.8 m2) during hot humid conditions (30°C, 60%, 70°C, 1 m/s), working at moderate intensity (3 MET; 314W), in five different levels of personal protective clothing (L1-L5).
Fig 4.
Predicted rise in core body temperature of five individual body sizes (S1-S5) (m2) during hot humid low solar (morning / evening) conditions (25°C, 40%, 35°C, 1 m/s), working at three different intensities (2, 3, and 5 MET), wearing the highest level of personal protective clothing (MSF Tychem; L5).
Fig 5.
Predicted rise in core body temperature of five individual body sizes (S1-S5) (m2) during hot humid high solar (mid-day) conditions (30°C, 60%, 70°C, 1 m/s), working at three different intensities (2, 3, and 5 MET), wearing the highest level of personal protective clothing (MSF Tychem; L5).
Table 3.
Modeled work/rest guidance over a four hour period for average size person (1.8 m2) based on activity level and environment wearing the highest level of personal protective clothing (MSF Tychem; L5).