[Diagnostic criteria for latex allergy]

The author has made an observation which seems to illustrate his proposition perfectly. A patient who was the victim of many acute episodes of rhino-conjunctivitis and severe Quincke's oedema has found benefit from two specialised assessments which established a diagnosis of allergy only to latex. The key to this diagnosis rested on unusual reasoning based on a search for a sufficiently "virulent" allergen to be responsible for the severity of the clinical signs. This idea and recent understanding of crossed allergy materials should aid detection of subjects who are allergic to natural latex.