ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, April 23, 1997              TAG: 9704230059
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE

SURGEON ADVOCATES POWDER-FREE GLOVES SOME SURGERY PATIENTS ARE ALLERGIC TO CORNSTARCH.

For 15 years, a University of Virginia surgeon has warned that the lubricating powder on gloves worn by doctors and nurses can give patients deadly allergic reactions.

Now, Dr. Richard Edlich has published a book on the subject, and he said some hospitals are finally beginning to switch to powder-free gloves.

Cornstarch powder lines the interior of surgical and routine examination gloves to make it easier for health care workers to put them on.

Some surgery patients experience complications from the cornstarch itself, Edlich said. Another problem is that the powder scrapes latex particles from the gloves, and the mixture of powder and latex becomes an airborne contaminant.

An Oregon nurse who worked for years with powdered gloves developed a severe allergy to latex. She died in June 1996 after having inhaled cornstarch powder floating through the hospital where she worked.

As a result of Cheryl Morebacker's death, the Oregon Legislature is considering a bill that would outlaw powdered gloves. Edlich, a professor of plastic surgery and an expert on surgical wound healing and infection, attended a Senate committee hearing on the bill Tuesday.

-ASSOCIATED PRESS

LENGTH: Short :   34 lines