Quantification of occupational latex aeroallergens in a medical center

Latex allergens in tire dust and airborne particles.

“…Our Depending on the rate of removal of these particles by the mucocillary system of the airways, sufficient accumulation of rubber dust could occur to provide allergenic stimulation of IgE antibody formation or sensitization. Therefore, we wished to compare ambient outdoor exposure levels for airborne latex allergen with occupational indoor levels encountered in a study carried out in a hospital where powdered latex gloves were used (44). Even though quantitative inhibition assays were not performed on the limited amounts of airborne particulate matter samples in the present study, a lower limit estimate for an outdoor airborne latex allergen concentration of 0.028 ng FDA equivalent latex allergen/m3 air can be obtained from our results by using the latex allergen content of the ambient freeway dust adjusted for its 75% rubber particle content (27.7 pg FDA latex allergen/g rubber particles) in conjunction with the PM10 tire dust concentration in Los Angeles (1 pg/m3).…”

“…(44) were much higher than the average outdoor Los Angeles ambient level. When expressed in nanograms of FDA equivalent latex allergen per cubic meter of air, the levels were 104-1664 and 2.4-14.4, respectively, in areas of the hospital where powdered gloves were used and where they were seldom used (44).…”

“…In the hospital study (44), a technician sensitive to latex allergen did report an asthma episode at an airborne concentration of 96 ng FDA equivalent latex allergen/m3. In a crab processing factory, which had concentrations of airborne crab antigen in the range 9-115 ng/m3, 34% of the workers demonstrated asthmatic symptoms and 52% had crab-specific IgE antibodies (45).…”

Occupational asthma

“…Vandenplas et al (71), using specific inhalation challenges found a 2.5% prevalence of OA among 273 hospital employees. Because of the widespread use of powdered gloves, latex is a common aeroallergen in medical centers (72). Reductions in exposure to latex proteins have been reported to be associated with decreased sensitization and symptoms (73,74).…”

Health hazard evaluation report: HETA-97-0224-2740, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa.

“…The samples were analyzed for latex protein using a human IgE inhibition latex immunoassay with a sensitivity of 200 nanograms per sample (ng/sample). 3 Wipe samples collected from the return air grilles were used to evaluate the presence of latex proteins which may have accumulated on this surface.…”