SUMETH WANNAPRUEK

Khon Kaen _ Condoms and protective gloves can pose serious, or deadly, health threats to those allergic to rubber latex , a research has found.

Assistant Prof Nesinee Chai-ia, of Khon Kaen University's Medicine Faculty, an expert on natural rubber latex allergy, said the products made from rubber latex, such as gloves that are widely used in factories, hospitals and households, were a major contributor to the life-threatening latex allergy.

Cases of people developing allergies from para rubber had risen over recent years due to the extensive use of protective rubber gloves following an increase in the outbreak of infectious diseases, which made people think more about hygiene than before, said the researcher.

Condom users should also be careful about rubber allergy, she said, citing a medical report of a man who died during sexual intercourse as being allergic to a latex protein in a condom.

Ms Nesinee urged people to consult doctors to find out if they were allergic to rubber.

Symptoms of allergies range from dermatitis, urticaria and shock, which could be fatal, she said.

"The problem is many people who have this allergy are not aware that they are allergic to the rubber latex and continue using latex-made products, which they should not," she said. ------------------------------------------------------

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there are expensive sheepskin condoms and there is nitrile in place of latex too!!!!