Latex allergy can turn lives upside down
Two clinicians report their experiences
There have been many reports of health care workers who have practiced for years without showing any signs of latex allergy, yet eventually developed sensitivity. Some have had to end their careers or switch to nonclinical positions.
Some were simply told to switch to vinyl gloves, yet the problem persisted because their sensitivity extended to latex products worn by colleagues, most notably the airborne latex proteins carried aloft by powder on gloves. Some were so sensitive than even wearing a vinyl glove under a latex glove did not provide adequate protection from progressively worsening allergic reactions.
Here are reports from a couple clinicians whose lives were disrupted by latex allergy:
• When a staff nurse at Berkshire Medical Center, in Pittsfield, MA, developed latex sensitivity, she was told that simply switching to vinyl gloves would solve the problem. But "no one ever told me I shouldn’t be around any amount of latex, so I wore latex gloves over vinyl gloves during procedures," she says.
Soon, she began suffering from respiratory problems and tightness in her chest. The problem became progressive. The first time, it took four hours before a reaction occurred.
The next time it took two hours. Subsequent allergic symptoms appeared in an hour and then half an hour. What puzzled her, and many others, was that she had been using latex gloves for years and never experienced adverse symptoms.
Her latex allergy was documented by an allergist, and she was told that she would have to work in a latex-free environment. But none existed in the hospital. She had to leave her 20-year career of nursing. The nurse has looked for a facility that can guarantee her a safe area, but none has been able to offer her such assurances.
The allergy also has affected her personal life. She says that she had to walk out of four different restaurants one day because the kitchen staff used latex gloves to prepare food.
• A physician at Robinson Correctional Institute in Illinois had been allergic to latex for 15 years. "To protect yourself from being sensitized, you must not only use latex-free products yourself, there must be no one else in the environment using powdered latex products," he stressed. "Latex proteins leach into the powder, and the powder flies everywhere, landing on everything."
His continued exposure to latex caused his reactions to become progressively worse. He suffered anaphylaxis many times, he says. "I used to get itchy, then have trouble breathing, and then go into shock. Now it goes right to the bad stuff and doesn’t respond to epinephrine like it used to."
The prison environment in which he works makes avoiding latex difficult, since guards often wear latex gloves. He had kept his allergy a secret from his colleagues, disclosing it only when he had to undergo emergency spinal surgery because he feared the use of latex during the procedure might literally kill him. He faced another obstacle during post-surgical rehabilitation, where clinicians treating him also used latex products.
Often, according to one latex-allergic clinician, health care workers are reluctant to disclose their latex allergy for fear they will lose their jobs. But convincing a facility to switch to non-latex products presents a formidable challenge: A large hospital might spend $150,000 or more annually on standard, powdered latex gloves. Switching entirely to powder-free, low-protein gloves would probably cost twice as much. "You’ve got to convince administrators it’s a life-and-limb issue," the physician says.
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