DENVER, CO -- March 10, 2003 -- A study of sensitivity to latex among health care workers at three large Veterans Affairs medical centers shows low levels of allergic reactions.

Asriani Chiu, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States, found that only 0.6% of the workers had an actual allergy to latex, and overall more than 90% of the workers at the hospitals -- whether involved in direct patient care or in clerical activity -- had no signs of sensitivity to latex.

During her presentation in a oral presentation at the 60^th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, she noted, however, that in the hospitals where the study was conducted, powder-free or low powder latex gloves were used almost exclusively.

Previous studies have linked the powdered gloves to higher rates of latex sensitivity.

"This study demonstrates that allergic symptoms attributed to latex gloves and/or latex sensitisation occurred in 8.3% of the hospital population, with exposure and atopy being risk factors," Dr. Chiu reported. "Few symptomatic individuals were sensitised to latex, with latex glove allergy confirmed in only 0.6%. Thus, for many healthcare workers, symptoms attributed to latex exposure are likely due to causes other than latex allergy."

Dr. Chiu and colleagues enrolled 1,959 people into the study between November 1999 and April 2001. The workers were from Madison, Wisconsin, Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Chicago, Illinois, Lakeside Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Milwaukee Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Of the people studied, 162 had latex glove allergic symptoms, a positive chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAP) assay, or both.

She found that 0.6% had both a CAP-positive assay and symptoms consistent with allergic reactions; 6.2% had symptoms but a CAP-negative assay result; 1.3% had a positive CAP assay but did not have allergic symptoms.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs.


[Study title: The Relationship of Asthma Severity to Pulmonary Eosinophilia. Abstract 499]

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