The distribution and abundance of allergy-inducing pollen is changing, and this could certainly play a role in the hay fever epidemic – perhaps, as a result, more people are becoming sensitised or are seeking treatment for worsening symptoms.
Last September, invasive super-pollens made the news in the UK after they were detected in central England. The offending pollen was ragweed, a long-standing scourge for Americans with hay fever that has recently become established in parts of central and southern Europe – which is presumably where the pollen blew in from. Whether ragweed will establish itself further north is up for debate. "It's a very plastic plant; it can survive at cooler temperatures, but whether it can prosper is another question," says Roy Kennedy, director of the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit in Worcester, UK.
Climate change could ...
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