Glove powder in the hospital environment -- consequences for healthcare workers.

Objective: Exposure to starch powder from natural rubber latex medical gloves can cause allergy symptoms among healthcare employees and impair working conditions, due to the absorption of latex protein antigens onto the starch powder on the gloves. To evaluate and take care of this problem at Stockholm Söder Hospital we carried out this study.

Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to all employees working within the medical centre.

Assay of theophylline: in vivo and in vitro evaluation of dry chemistry and immunoassay versus high-performance liquid chromatography.

In the last decade, kits using dry chemistry have been introduced for analysis of theophylline in biological fluids. We investigated the performance of Ames Seralyzer and Kodak Ektachem 700XR. They were compared to an enzyme immunotechnique (Syva EMIT) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).