The permeability of gloves and differently formulated NR latex films to a challenge surrogate virus, X174 of diameter 27 nm, was assessed by a newly-developed method which could detect holes greater than or equal to 2 mewm. Samples from chlorinated and copolymerised natural rubber gloves and gloves with different extractable protein contents were found to be impermeable to the virus even when stretched 9x their original areas. Similar results were obtained with samples from nitrile and vinyl gloves. The integrities of the latex films were not affected when the films were of different high-ammoniated latex concentrate sources, different levels of non-rubber constituents, different curing systems, different moduli or different leaching protocols. The films maintained their barrier properties even after being aged at 70 degree C for 7 or 14 days. These clearly showed that stretched latex films were not porous. Furthermore, impermeability to a small virus such as X174 indicated that the films could also be impervious to human viruses such as hepatitis B or C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus, herpes simplex virus and cytomegalovirus which are up to five times bigger than X174.