For many years latex allergy has been a common cause of allergic reactions that can range from annoying to life or career threatening.
The explosion in the use of rubber gloves after the HIV epidemic in the late 1970's led to widespread use of protective gloves for everyone from garbage collectors to health care and emergency workers.
The incidence of latex allergy has increased as the use of latex in gloves has skyrocketed.
The most common latex allergy is a skin reaction that occurs after skin contact with latex containing materials.
Glove use is just one of the common ways the skin comes into contact with latex.
Other common sources are elastic in clothing such as undergarments and stretch fit clothes.
Many hidden sources of latex are lurking to affect the unwary allergic person.
Many medical devices such as blood pressure cuffs and dental dams contain latex.
Condoms are usually latex, rubber bands and many stoppers and containers.
Latex can also be in the powder on rubber gloves.
People with serious latex allergy often develop asthma or wheezing from aerosolized latex in this powder.
Power was routinely used to make it easier to get gloves on and off, but with latex allergy becoming more prevalent and better understood most health care facilities use almost exclusively non-latex gloves.
There are high quality nitrile and other non-latex gloves that are affordable though more expensive than latex.
Unfortunately most of the gloves sold at hardware stores for use in painting or other uses are still low-quality and high powder latex gloves.
Health care workers, patients who have repeated surgery as a neonate, and anyone who has had repeated exposure to latex over long periods of time are especially at risk for latex exposure.
It can be so severe that health care workers can become unable or have great difficulty continuing work in their occupations.