Better ventilation may ease latex allergy

[Guest guest]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/544934.asp?0nm=C13O

Hospitals are gradually switching from latex gloves to those made from vinyl

or other synthetic fibers.

Better ventilation may ease latex allergy

Recirculated air a risk to hospital workers, study finds

By Stenson

MSNBC

NEW ORLEANS, March 20 - Improving hospital ventilation may help prevent the

development of latex allergy, a condition that affects as many as one in 10

health-care workers, a new study suggests.

EMPLOYEES at a hospital that recirculated the air were at four-fold greater

risk of developing potentially dangerous latex-induced respiratory symptoms

than workers at a hospital that regularly pumped in fresh air, according to

a study presented here Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Academy

of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI).

Researcher Diane , a nurse at the Medical College of Wisconsin

in Milwaukee, said the study confirms suspicions that recirculated air is a

culprit in latex allergy. " When you recirculate air in a hospital, you

recirculate everything that's going around, and latex allergen is a very

airborne allergen, " she said.

" These are intriguing and provocative results, " said AAAAI

spokesperson Dr. Wasserman, director of the immunology clinic at

Children's Medical Center in Dallas. " If they are supported by further

studies, they have important implications for the workplace. "

Most hospitals probably recirculate at least some air,

said. One of the reasons is that recirculation lowers heating and cooling

costs.

About 6 percent of the general population has latex allergy. Among

health-care workers who are often exposed to gloves and other medical

equipment made from latex, that figure is as high as 10 percent.

Many sufferers develop a poison ivy-like rash, often on the hands,

that results after direct contact with a latex product. Others have a more

serious respiratory reaction - characterized by itching, swelling of the

mouth and sneezing - to inhaled latex particles, which may be carried into

the air on the powder often used in latex gloves. In some cases, patients

may develop anaphylaxis - a life-threatening allergic reaction that must be

treated immediately. Some patients react to both touching and breathing in

latex.

STUDY DETAILS

In the new study, researchers focused on doctors, nurses and other

workers at Veterans Affairs hospitals in Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison,

Wis., who experienced respiratory symptoms associated with latex exposure.

Results of questionnaires and allergy tests showed that the

prevalence of latex sensitivity was 1 percent in the Milwaukee hospital, 2

percent in the Madison hospital and 4 percent in the Chicago hospital.

After accounting for differences in usage of latex gloves, staff turnover

and other factors that may have affected the results, the researchers

concluded that hospital ventilation systems played a key role in sensitizing

workers to latex.

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The Milwaukee hospital, which had the lowest prevalence of latex

allergy, has a fresh-air intake system with no recirculation. The Chicago

hospital, with the highest prevalence, recirculated all air. And the Madison

location had a system that combined both fresh-air intake and recirculation.

Hospitals are gradually switching from latex gloves to those made

from vinyl or other synthetic fibers. But change is coming slowly, experts

say, mainly because the newer gloves are twice as expensive as latex.