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Allergic to condoms? Or surgical gloves? If so, you’re not alone. Latex
allergy is on the increase, warns Finnish Immuno-technology of Tampere.
Increasing exposure to latex is making people more sensitive to it. Contact with
latex can trigger asthma-like symptoms or even fatal anaphylactic shock. Now the
company says it has isolated the four allergenic proteins causing all the
trouble and devised a test to warn people if they are susceptible (WO 01/61305).
To perform the test, medics mix a blood sample with synthesised versions of
these proteins. A colour change reveals if you have the allergy.