Abstract:
Latex allergy is common and is the risk among health care workers. The wide use of latex gloves in preventing infection disease such as HIV has lead to the increase in latex sensitization and allergy. Cross reactivity among latex and fruit has been reported. This study explored the prevalence of skin test reactivity to latex and the positive cross-reactivity to jackfruit, papaya and banana antigens in health care workers with exposed to latex. One hundred and sixty nine subjects from Sawanpracharat, Chulalongkorn Hospitals and The faculty of Dentist Chulalongkorn University were enrolled. Their professions: 45.5% nurse, 18.9% dentist, 7.7% doctor and other 27.9%. Male : Female 26:143. Mean age 33.93 + 9.66 . Their diseases included allergic rhinitis 20.7%, atopic dermatitis 14.2%, asthma 5.9% and chronic uritcaria 1.2%. Of note, these prevalence are similar to the previous reports in Thai population. Ten subjects (10/169 or 5.9%) reported clinical latex allergy, 7 of them had consented for skin prick test. A half (5/10) manifested with contact urticaria, 4 with itching eyes and 3 with running nose. Of 169,109 (64.5%) had consented for skin prick test. However, there were no difference in the major demographics of these subjects compared to those who skin prick test were not performed. Only 2 of 109 (1.8%) showed positive skin test to latex antigen. Interestingly, the 2 subjects were among 7 with history of latex allergy , whereas none of the 102 subjects with no history of latex allergy has skin test positive to latex antigen. There were no cross reactive skin tests to the 3 fruit antigens among the 2 subjects. In summary, atopic history of health care workers is similar to the general Thai population. Approximately 6% and 2% of health care workers in this study had history of latex allergy and latex skin test positive, respectively. No cross reactivity to the 3 fruit antigens was observed in the 2 subjects with latex skin prick test positive. However a larger sample size is required to further explore this research question.