Prevalence of latex hypersensitivity among health care workers in Malaysia.

Health care workers have been reported to constitute one of the few high-risk groups related to IgE-mediated hypersensitivity associated with the use of latex products. This paper describes the first ever study of prevalence carried out in Malaysia among these workers. One hundred and thirty health care personnel from Hospital Kuala Lumpur were skin tested.

The occurrence of a furanoid fatty acid inHevea brasiliensis latex.

Methyl esters from the triglyceride fraction of the neutral lipids of natural rubber latex were found by gas liquid chromatography to contain about 90% of a furanoid acid. Spectroscopic analysis identified the acid as 10,13-epoxy-11-methyloctadeca-10,12-dienoic acid.