ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Over the past years, latex allergy has evolved from a curiosity to an important health care and patient management concern. Allergic reactions to Hevea latex proteins occur, for the most part, in members of well-defined risk groups. These include health care workers, rubber industry workers, and children with spina bifida (meningomyelocele) and urogenital abnormalities. The only common feature among these groups appears to be a high degree of exposure to natural rubber. Health care and rubber industry workers are exposed during the course of their occupations, and spina bifida patients through repeated surgery and, in some cases, fecal disimpaction and the repeated introduction of a latex catheter into the bladder.
