SAN DIEGO, March 5 (UPI) -- Researchers said Sunday a study carried out in
France among men and women who suffer from latex allergies proves that adding a
couple of steps to the manufacturing process can create condoms that will not
cause allergic reactions.
"Condoms are widely used as a means of contraception and/or to prevent sexually
transmitted diseases, especially since the development of AIDS prevention
programs in the mid-1980s," said Dr. David Levy, a physician/researcher at
Hopital Tenon, Paris.
Levy said the added steps to manufacturing condoms "deproteinizes" them by
washing the prophylactic devices before they are packaged. Latex allergies are
caused by proteins on the natural rubber products.
"Recently we reported that among latex allergic individuals who use of have used
such condoms more than 80 percent, mostly women, have had an allergic reaction,
including systemic reactions, during or immediately after sexual intercourse,"
Levy said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology.
Manufacturers in France have been producing deproteinized condoms since 1997,
but Levy said until his study no one had tested them in practice. From the
consultation service at Hopital Tenon and other facilities in Paris, Levy found
400 individuals with latex allergies and randomly asked 94 of the people to
participate in the condom test.
Eventually 19 people -- 14 women -- aged 21 to 60, including 13 health care
workers agreed to the test. They agreed to have intercourse 10 times using
condoms during a six-week period. All 19 were given skin tests which showed they
were positive for latex allergy.
"Not one of the subjects in the study reported any allergic type reactions from
use of the condoms," Levy said. Usual reactions from latex in this group
included rashes, hives, swelling, tearing eyes and even one case of respiratory
distress.
"This test doesn't mean that someone with latex allergy won't develop a
reaction," Levy said, "but it would probably be just one in a 1,000."
While studies in the United States have not found as high a rate of latex
allergy reaction as with the French studies, Dr. Marianne Frieri, associate
professor of medicine at the State University of New York-Stony Brook, said
there are people who have reported reactions to latex condoms.
"Allergic reactions due to latex condoms is not common," she said, "but it is
not rare, either. We do screening at our hospital, and the use of condoms is on
our questionnaire." The employees are offered latex sensitivity tests if they
are frequently exposed to the material.
Levy said, "We encourage physicians routinely question their latex allergic
patients, including adolescents, about their use of condoms to advise them about
the possibility of adverse reactions associated with their use. For these such
patients, these new condoms appear to be a safe alternative to abstinence for
the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy."
