Linthwaite woman Sarah Tuffs tells of balloon allergy hell

Feb 25 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Linthwaite woman tells of balloon allergy hell

She said: “The care home was made a latex-free zone. If I have to go away for training days I have to ring them beforehand to make sure there’s no balloons.

“I couldn’t go and work anywhere else, they would have to make themselves latex-free just to take me on. If I didn’t have my job, I’d be unemployable.”

Everyday life has also become much more complicated for Mrs Tuffs since she developed the airborne allergy to latex.

She said: “I have to make sure my husband or my daughter is with me when I go out. We went to the National Media Museum in Bradford recently and they had to go in first to make sure there were no balloons.

“We went to the Chinese New Year celebrations in Huddersfield but I couldn’t go in because there were balloons there. If I’m on the bus and a child gets on with a balloon, I have to get off.”

Mrs Tuffs even finds it hard to pick up the emergency medication she needs.

She said: “I get my EpiPen from Boots in Huddersfield, but I can’t go in there anymore. They’ve gone from having three balloons to having 30. They told me they needed to use balloons to promote things.

“It’s the same story at Sainsbury’s in town. I can’t walk through the Kingsgate Centre because there are so many balloons”.

THERE are two forms of allergy: Type 1 and Type IV.

Type I is the most serious and rare form, an immediate and potentially life-threatening reaction.

Type IV is known as allergic contact dermatitis. This involves a delayed skin rash that is similar to poison ivy with blistering and oozing of the skin (see urushiol-induced contact dermatitis). This type is caused by a naturally occurring latex protein.

Type IV reactions are caused by the chemicals used to process the rubber.

Allergic reactions to exposure to natural rubber latex (NRL) have increased significantly over the last 10 years, particularly within healthcare occupations.