A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Co-exposure to highly allergenic airborne pollen and fungal spores in Europe




AuthorsMyszkowska D., Bogawski P., Piotrowicz K., Bosiacka B., Grinn-Gofroń A., Berger U.E., Bonini M., Ceriotti V., Charalampopoulos A., Galán C., Gedda B., Ianovici N., Kloster M., Oliver G., Pashley C.H., Pätsi S., Pérez-Badia R., Puc M., Rodinkova V., Skjøth C.A., Thibaudon M., Vokou D., Damialis A.

PublisherElsevier B.V.

Publication year2023

JournalScience of the Total Environment

Journal name in sourceScience of the Total Environment

Article number167285

Volume905

ISSN0048-9697

eISSN1879-1026

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167285

Web address https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167285


Abstract

The study is aimed at determining the potential spatiotemporal risk of the co-occurrence of airborne pollen and fungal spores high concentrations in different bio-climatic zones in Europe. Birch, grass, mugwort, ragweed, olive pollen and Alternaria and Cladosporium fungal spores were investigated at 16 sites in Europe, in 2005–2019. In Central and northern Europe, pollen and fungal spore seasons mainly overlap in June and July, while in South Europe, the highest pollen concentrations occur frequently outside of the spore seasons. In the coldest climate, no allergy thresholds were exceeded simultaneously by two spore or pollen taxa, while in the warmest climate most of the days with at least two pollen taxa exceeding threshold values were observed. The annual air temperature amplitude seems to be the main bioclimatic factor influencing the accumulation of days in which Alternaria and Cladosporium spores simultaneously exceed allergy thresholds. The phenomenon of co-occurrence of airborne allergen concentrations gets increasingly common in Europe and is proposed to be present on other continents, especially in temperate climate.



Last updated on 2025-27-03 at 22:05