BBC News | HEALTH | Mexican plant solution to rubber allergy

BBC News Online: Health

Wednesday, 8 December, 1999, 19:45 GMT

Mexican plant solution to rubber allergy

People with an allergy to rubber latex could benefit from a new substitute product extracted from a Mexican plant.

Rubber latex is a key component in products such as most surgical gloves and condoms and can put severe allergy sufferers into potentially fatal anaphylactic shock.

Health care workers are particularly prone to problems because of the use of surgical gloves as part of their daily working routines.

The allergic reaction is caused by proteins in the latex - a fluid extracted from the Brazilian rubber tree - and has become far worse since the 1980s as a result of the HIV and Aids epidemic, which led to dramatic increases in the manufacture of rubber latex products.

Mass production has led, in some cases, to falling production standards - in particular, failures to wash away the damaging proteins.

Mexican shrub

New Scientist magazine reports a team of researchers at the US Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California, now say they have proved that latex from the guayule plant, a perennial shrub native to Mexico, is free of the allergic proteins found in rubber latex.

It is estimated that 20 million people in the US are allergic to traditional latex.

Katrina Cornish and colleagues at the centre tested guayule latex gloves by filling them with a solution containing HIV, hepatitis B and herpes simplex viruses.

None of the viruses passed through the gloves during an hour-long test.

Longer shelf life

A similar test with guayule condoms was just as effective and Ms Cornish said the new latex appears to have a longer shelf life and is harder to pierce than the traditional version.

A Philadelphia company, Yulex, is now planning to commercially produce 300 medical products using the guayule latex.

Lesley Fudge, clinical nurse manager for theatres at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, which has campaigned on the issue of latex gloves, said she welcomed the new advance but would want to see proof that it did not have its own side-effects.

She said: "I would love to say guayule is the answer to our dreams. It may be a replacement for people who are sensitive to latex, but it doesn't have any longitudinal research so we don't know what it holds for the future."

Some hospital trusts have switched to use alternatives such as vinyl gloves and condom manufacturer Durex introduced its Avanti range in 1997, which is made of polyurethane.

Related to this story:
NHS worker compensated over latex gloves (18 Oct 99 | Health)
Hospital strikes back against rubber glove allergy (30 Jun 98 | Health)

Internet Links: United States Department of Agriculture New Scientist magazine Latex allergy help
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