Rubber contact urticaria

To compare the Immediate skm test reactivity ofvanous latex (natural rubber) surgical and cleanmg gloves, pnck tests were performed on 40 latex-allergic persons, 26 of whom were sensitized by surgical and 14 by cleanmg latex gloves. 6/17 surgical gloves tested and 1/2 cleanmg gloves caused positive reactions m almost all (over 87%) of the allergic subjects. In contrast, the frequencies of positive reactions to 4 other surg~callatex gloves were as low as 8-21%, suggesting that not all surgical gloves are equally allergemc. Control pnck tests with I synthetic rubber and I polyvmyl chlonde (PVC) glove were negative m all subjects. 2 surgical latex gloves causmg either a high or low number of positive pnck tests m allergic subjects were analyzed with high-pressure liqmd chromatography (HPLC). Similar allergemc protem fractions were detected, which showed protem peaks at MW 2000, 5000 and 30000 daltons. Corresponding protems were detected m I latex cleanmg glove analyzed and m natural rubber. Thts result confirms that allergemc protems persist m vanous surgical and cleamng latex gloves after manufacture from natural rubber and may cause contact urtlcana symptoms m sensitized people.