What started as a solution has become somewhat of a problem. Gloves are a necessary component of the health care provider’s wardrobe in order to protect against diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. But latex gloves, especially powdered ones, are now becoming a nagging and often serious problem for health care workers.

Latex causes allergic symptoms, ranging from itching and hives to asthma and life-threatening shock, in an estimated eight percent of the nation's seven million health care workers, experts say. Some patients are at risk too, especially those with spina bifida, 40 to 65 percent of whom have latex allergies. Scientists say that the cornstarch powder used on latex gloves to make the pulling on and off of gloves easier actually exasperates allergies because the powder emits latex particles.

A consumer group recently urged the government to ban powdered latex gloves. The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged a serious problem but did not agree to a ban.

“Five in one hundred health care workers have an allergy [to latex],” said Howard Maibach, professor of dermatology. “Every week we see patients with it.” Over 20 years ago, Maibach first described the phenomenon of contact urticaria syndrome, which comprises a heterogeneous group of inflammatory reactions that usually appear within minutes after contact with the eliciting substance.

“In 1975 we only knew of contact dermatitis, like poison ivy, which takes many hours to develop and disappears within a few days or weeks,” Maibach said. He and his colleague H.L. Johnson were the first to realize there was something “peculiar” with conditions that develop almost immediately and disappear within hours.

In the beginning stages, Maibach said, the symptoms of latex allergies develop immediately and disappear as soon as the aggravating stimulus, such as the glove, is removed. “The most common problem is exactly where the glove touches the skin,” he said. “If their sensitivity builds up, it goes from dermatitis to eczema. If you have heightened sensitivity, you can get asthma.” Some people’s latex allergies progress to anaphylaxis and even death, Maibach said.

Maibach says he sees an average of one person a week with latex allergy. Although some of these patients have extracutaneous, or non-skin, reactions, most of them have the common problems of burn, sting, itch and hives. “We have every reason to believe that the far end of the biological spectrum is uncommon,” Maibach said.

By Paula Murphy

1st appeared 1/22/98

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