Andrew Saxon, MD; Dennis Ownby, MD; Thomas Huard, MD; Romain Parsad, MS; and H. Daniel Roth, PhD

Following early reports of severe reactions to natural rubber latex (NRL), there has been increasing concern about which groups of people are at risk for latex allergy and whether this risk can be reduced. Many individuals with IgE to latex do not display clinical reactivity; however, it is among such sensitized subjects that hypersensitivity reactions may occur. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of IgE antibodies to NRL among random blood donors and to assess the performance of the AlaSTAT assay. Blood samples were obtained from nearly 2000 unselected adult donors. These samples were then tested for latex-specific anti-IgE at three independent testing sites using the AlaSTAT system. Results showed that the prevalence of IgE to NRL among the three laboratories varied from 5.4% to 7.6% at the designated cutoff of 0.35 kU/L. This study confirms earlier reports regarding the prevalence of IgE to latex in blood donors.

AlaSTAT is a registered trademark of Diagnostic Products Corporation.

*Article published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology, Volume 84, February 2000.