FITkit^®

During the last 15 years natural rubber latex (NRL) allergy has become a serious worldwide health problem. Up to 17% of healthcare workers and about 1% of the general population are allergic to natural rubber latex. While contact urticaria is the most common clinical manifestation of NRL allergy, the disease may be presented in its most serious form as anaphylaxis, a life threatening systemic reaction. NRL based medical devices (gloves, masks, etc.) are a potential source of sensitisation to both healthcare personnel and patients. Potentially, anyone in contact with objects containing NRL (e.g. gloves, condoms, catheters, dental dams, balloons, toys etc.) can become sensitised. On the other hand, there are several risks (HIV etc) threatening healthcare workers, and the reason of using of medical devices is unavoidable. A long list of the latex products are in daily use.

Liquid latex from the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, is the source of NRL and contains over 200 proteins; only 13 of them have been identified as allergens. Only some allergens retain their allergenic properties through the manufacturing processes. Thus, when trying to reduce the allergenicity of NRL products, any good testing method must measure all components with clinical relevance present in the final product. The NRL allergens that have been shown to be clinically relevant to genuine NRL allergy, and present in the final NRL products with maintained allergenicity are Hev b 1, Hev b 3, Hev b 5 and Hev b 6.02. According to latest studies, quantification of these four major allergens shows the allergenic potential of rubber products.