Protein Concentration Determination in Latex Glove Using Biocompatibility Morphological Mean Test

Abstract

Latex gloves are seen as an indispensable item in the healthcare field because it offers superior protection for both the medical staff and patient against harmful substances. However, latex gloves with high protein concentration have a high possibility to induce latex allergy which in the worst case can lead to a life-threatening condition. To minimize the occurrence of an allergy reaction, the computerized Biocompatibility Morphological Mean (BMM) test for protein detection is proposed. This test initially goes through the chemical process to determine the protein that resides in the glove sample. After that, the sample is electronically converted into a digital image. Finally, the image undergoes color image processing for calculating the color difference values. These values are then plotted on a standard curve. A high correlation coefficient (R2>0.97) of the standard curve gives better accuracies. The proposed method only takes about 40 minutes to complete the test, while existing methods need at least 6 hours.