Three national health organizations wrote President Barack Obama today, requesting the administration issue an immediate moratorium on federal guidelines that require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enforce the use of fit-tested N95 respirators among health care workers treating patients with suspected or confirmed influenza A H1N1.

The letter, composed by experts from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), follows a retraction last week by the Australian researchers who authored a preliminary report suggesting N95 respirators offered significant benefits over surgical masks, after data from another study indicated both offer equal protection from disease transmission.

“During a time of a national emergency, healthcare professionals need clear, practical and evidence-based guidance from the government,” IDSA president Richard Whitley, MD, said in a press release. “The current guidance is not supported by the best-available science and only serves to create skepticism toward federal public and occupational health-decision making.”

Other concerns expressed in the joint letter included confusion among health care professionals and misallocation of scarce resources.

“The supply of N95 respirators is rapidly being depleted in our healthcare facilities,” APIC 2009 president Christine Nutty, RN, said in the release. “We are concerned that there won’t be adequate supply to protect health care workers when patients with tuberculosis enter the healthcare system.”

Surgical masks offer several advantages, the letter stated, including being more readily available, more practical to implement, more likely to be worn and less costly than N95 respirators. “Permitting OSHA to continue to enforce a policy that is not grounded in science will force healthcare facilities to waste time and resources working to comply with a flawed requirement when they instead should be working to enact measures that will have a beneficial impact on patient care and worker safety during this national emergency,” they wrote.