Stores sold out of masks due to scare

Protection: One of the largest pharmacy chains in the State has run out of surgical masks, following a phenomenal demand from the public for protection against the SARS virus.

Boots Chemists said its wholesale suppliers had not been able to keep up with the demand for masks from outlets around the State.

Stocks had run low since the start of the week and as of yesterday no masks were available in Boots stores.

"Requests for the masks have risen by 100 per cent," a member of the health care team at Boots Jervis Street, Dublin said. "There has been a demand, not just in Dublin but across the country. Stocks were running low but now they are completely gone."

It would be four or five days before their wholesalers could supply new stocks she said, which was causing some panic among people travelling to Asian countries this weekend. "People will take anything at this stage, I even had one may asking if iodine tablets would help."

Fannins Healthcare in Dublin said they still had stocks of masks left, but they were moving very quickly. "We're selling about 20 boxes of 100 masks each day, that's about what we used to sell in a year," a sales assistant said. "A lot of people have come in to buy a number of boxes to post out to family in affected countries."

The Pharmacy at Dublin airport has also sold out of masks this week. "We had a box on the shelf for two years, we never sold any before and now they're all gone," pharmacist Mr Niall Duggan said.

The masks that were available at the airport had been designed to combat air pollution. There had been no research to show that would protect against SARS.

"They weren't created for SARS. They will provide protection against droplets and probably, they will reassure people," Mr Duggan said.

IREMA Ireland, a Limerick based company which manufactures surgical masks said it is already running at full capacity and will be unable to take on any new orders until September. The majority of its masks were for export, a spokeswoman said.

Most of the masks on sale in pharmacies are made of thin cotton, or a paper mesh material with a lint lining and cost between 30 cent and €1.