News

Low rainfall brings relief for hayfever sufferers

Media Release, Friday 27 September 2002

According to a University of Melbourne pollen expert, 2002 promises to be a relatively benign allergy season, thanks to lower than average winter rainfalls.

According to Dr Ed Newbigin, co-ordinator of the Melbourne Pollen Count, Victoria's dry winter has slowed growth of pollen-rich exotic grasses in the countryside around the city.

October marks the "official" start of the hayfever season, and researchers at the Univeristy are once more geared up to send their daily pollen count and forecast to news outlets, in a joint effort to forewarn allergy-afflicted Melbournians.

Dr Newbigin warns allergies are still the number one environmental disease however, with asthma attacks, often triggered by pollen, being potentially life-threatening if not treated correctly.

The Melbourne Pollen Count is a joint project of the University of Melbourne's School of Botany, and Asthma Victoria. It is the only service of its kind in Victoria.

Dr Newbigin says the main benefit of the Pollen Count is to forewarn sufferers, so they can take precautions.

"With knowledge of the predicted pollen activity, sufferers can take action to combat allergies" he says. "Preventative action can be adjusting doses of medicines, avoiding high-pollen areas like parks and grassy areas, and keeping indoors at dawn and dusk, when fertile plants flower and release pollens."

"Sufferers also need to be aware that although rain usually makes pollens heavier and stops them from becoming airborne, thunderstorms can cause pollens to rupture and break up, which means they are small enough to enter the lungs and cause havoc. There is often an epidemic of emergency hospital admissions when storms and high or extreme pollen counts co-incide. The best place then for sufferers is indoors".

The Grass Pollen Count is offered daily during Melbourne's peak allergy period from October 1 to January 31.

A few facts about pollens.....

Pollen is really harmless: Pollen is actually a harmless object, containing nothing toxic to humans. It's the human body's immune system mistaking the pollen for something foreign that produces an allergic response in susceptible people.

Who suffers? Up to 25% of Australians suffer regularly from allergic asthma or hayfever with up to 50% having the potential to suffer

You could be allergic to your lawn: Flamboyant flowering plants (such as wattle) are often unfairly blamed for allergy-causing pollens. In fact it is the less flamboyant flowers abundant at the same time that are responsible for the eye-watering pollens. Species such as elms, ash and oak trees, and exotic grasses are some of the culprits. Rye grass, favoured by the home gardener for its hardiness, is a highly allergenic grass species, affecting numerous people in early Summer.

Beware of mornings: Many plants flower in the mornings, and then have a second flowering for the day at dusk. Airborne pollen concentrations are usually highest between 5am and 10am.

The biggest factors affecting pollen counts are wind and humidity. Moist, heavy pollens cannot travel on the wind as easily as dry, light pollens and so Melbourne's worst pollen days are characterized by hot northerly winds that bring pollen into the city from the grassy countryside.

More information about the Melbourne Pollen Count is available at: http://www.botany.unimelb.edu.au/