Alert: Latex Allergy

Course overview

Latex hypersensitivity was characterized as a problem in the late 1970s. It became a serious concern in the 1990s after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received reports of multiple deaths and over 1,000 documented reactions related to latex (Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], n.d.). Despite the ability of healthcare providers to recognize natural rubber latex (NRL) as an allergy, multiple studies have demonstrated that they cannot identify the symptoms of type I Iatex-induced allergic reactions (Kartal et al., 2020).