National Intelligence Report

Use of gloves has long been part of the universal precautions to protect clinical lab personnel, phlebotomists, and other health care workers from exposure to blood-borne pathogens. But an estimated three percent to 22 percent of all health care workers are sensitized to traditional latex gloves made from the milky sap of a rubber tree containing a protein that may trigger allergic reactions from mild to severe, especially after prolonged and repeated contact.