A determined Washington physician and an alert school employee in Prince George's County together have changed the way Maryland will design experiments used in school performance tests.
This week, the duo also has taught state educators valuable lessons about a little-known but potentially serious allergy that can be triggered by common latex products.
Culprits include rubber cement, latex balloons, rubber gloves worn by nurses, food handlers and janitors, and some rubber masks and toys.
Also, latex in liquid form, used in some science experiments, and this week the subject of statewide concern. Middle school teachers are rushing to delete from 20,000 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) tests an exercise using the substance.
"They weren't at liberty to tell me how the latex would be used, to protect the security of the test," said Dr. Catherine Shaer, medical director of the Spina Bifida Program at National Children's Hospital in Washington.
"But I explained that some of my patients that go to school there are at risk for allergy from latex," she said.
Shaer took action after receiving a call last week from a worried employee of Buck Lodge Middle School.
Following instructions to prepare for eighth-grade tests that begin Monday, the employee read the test manual -- and balked at the latex experiment.
She knew that one of her students was allergic to latex.
She asked the doctor: Could the child participate in the test? If not, could the child be present in the room? And if not, would it be safe for the child to be in the school building while others took the test?
"I said, 'Absolutely not,' " Shaer recalls.
Sharon Snider, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the FDA recorded 1,036 reports of latex allergic reactions between October 1988 and April 1992.
The reports included 16 deaths in 1989 traced to the latex tips of barium enema catheters used in hospitals. The tips were recalled and are no longer on the market.
No other fatalities occurred, but the list included 376 reports of reactions traced to latex gloves used in medical examinations.
Alerts issued
The FDA issued safety alerts and in 1991 published pamphlets alerting health care workers to the problem of latex allergies.
Scientists have identified seven proteins in natural rubber latex that appear to be responsible for triggering the allergic responses in some people.
