
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993                   TAG: 9312080193
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

ALLERGIES TO LATEX REPORTED AS EPIDEMIC

Natural rubber latex, the stretchy material used in such items as surgical gloves and condoms, is causing widespread allergic reactions ranging from mild irritation to life-threatening shock, a dermatologist reports.

"Epidemics are not usually discussed in terms of contact allergy, but we are in the midst of one to natural rubber latex," Dr. Ronald R. Brancaccio of the New York University Medical Center said Tuesday.

Brancaccio said there has been no comprehensive study to estimate the number of reactions, but he and other doctors at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology agreed there has been a sharp increase.

No deaths have been reported.

Reactions to latex were very rare in the 1970s, Brancaccio said. "Then, all of a sudden, in the late 1980s, there were lots of cases and more every year," he said. "It's not known exactly why."

Allergy reactions often develop from an increased exposure to a substance, Brancaccio said, and the AIDS epidemic has caused increased use of latex. Most health care workers now use a new set of gloves for each patient they treat, and there is a national safe sex campaign to use latex condoms to avoid exposure to the AIDS virus.

- Associated Press

by CNB