Cost implications of allergy and recent Canadian research findings.

The cost to hospital's managing latex allergy problems, and of instituting a co-operative response to the problem is estimated, and compared with the estimated cost of ignoring the problem. The costs and benefits of the interventional strategies, i.e. complete elimination of powdered latex gloves in favour of powder free latex gloves, are described in detail. It is demonstrated that the chosen interventional strategy not only reduced overall costs, but surprisingly, also reduced glove purchase costs.