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Source: ONE News
Sneezing, congestion, and runny noses from hay fever may be
lasting longer because climate change may be extending pollen
seasons, doctors in Italy said.
Pollen seasons as well as the amount of pollen in the air
progressively increased during a six-year study in Italy, the
doctors told a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma
& Immunology in New Orleans.
The team at Genoa University recorded pollen counts, how long
pollen seasons lasted and sensitivity to five types of pollen in
the Bordighera region of Italy from 1981 to 2007.
"By studying a well-defined geographical region, we observed that
the progressive increase of the average temperature has prolonged
the duration of the pollen seasons of some plants and,
consequently, the overall pollen load," Dr Walter Canonica, who
worked on the study, said in a statement.
The percentage of patients with reactions to the allergens
increased throughout the study but it is not clear whether longer
pollen seasons actually put more people at risk for developing
allergies, the researchers said.
Allergic rhinitis, commonly known as hay fever, is a reaction to
indoor or outdoor airborne allergens, such as pollen.
"Longer pollen seasons and high levels of pollen certainly can
exacerbate symptoms for people with allergic rhinitis and for those
who previously had minimal symptoms," said the AAAAI's Estelle
Levetin, who was not involved in the study.
About 25 million Americans, nearly half of them children, had hay
fever in the past year, according to the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
