47
© The Author(s) 2019
M. R. Marselle et al. (eds.), Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate
Change, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02318-8_3
Chapter 3
Climate Change and Pollen Allergies
Athanasios Damialis, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, and Regina Treudler
Abstract This chapter reviews the emerging importance of pollen allergies in relation to ongoing climate change. Allergic diseases have been increasing in prevalence over the last decades, partly as the result of the impact of climate change.
Increased sensitisation rates and more severe symptoms have been the partial outcome of: increased pollen production of wind-pollinated plants resulting in longterm increased abundance of pollen in the air we breathe; earlier shifts of airborne
pollen seasons making occurrence of allergic symptoms harder to predict and deal
with efficiently; increased allergenicity of pollen causing more severe health effects
in allergic individuals; introduction of new, invasive allergenic plant species causing
new sensitisations; environment-environment interactions, such as plants and hosted
microorganisms, i.e. fungi and bacteria, which comprise a complex and dynamic
system, with additive, presently unforeseeable influences on human health;
A. Damialis (*)
Chair of Environmental Medicine (UNIKA-T), Technical University of Munich,
Augsburg, Germany
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research
Center for Environmental Health, Augsburg, Germany
e-mail: thanos.damialis@tum.de
C. Traidl-Hoffmann
Chair of Environmental Medicine (UNIKA-T), Technical University of Munich,
Augsburg, Germany
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research
Center for Environmental Health, Augsburg, Germany
CK-CARE – Christine Kühne Center for Allergy Research and Education,
Davos, Switzerland
e-mail: c.traidl-hoffmann@tum.de
R. Treudler
Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, University of Leipzig Medical
Centre, Leipzig, Germany
Leipzig Interdisiplinary Centre for Allergology (LICA), University of Leipzig Medical
Centre, Leipzig, Germany
e-mail: allergie-hautklinik@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
© The Author(s) 2019
M. R. Marselle et al. (eds.), Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate
Change, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02318-8_3
Chapter 3
Climate Change and Pollen Allergies
Athanasios Damialis, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, and Regina Treudler
Abstract This chapter reviews the emerging importance of pollen allergies in relation to ongoing climate change. Allergic diseases have been increasing in prevalence over the last decades, partly as the result of the impact of climate change.
Increased sensitisation rates and more severe symptoms have been the partial outcome of: increased pollen production of wind-pollinated plants resulting in longterm increased abundance of pollen in the air we breathe; earlier shifts of airborne
pollen seasons making occurrence of allergic symptoms harder to predict and deal
with efficiently; increased allergenicity of pollen causing more severe health effects
in allergic individuals; introduction of new, invasive allergenic plant species causing
new sensitisations; environment-environment interactions, such as plants and hosted
microorganisms, i.e. fungi and bacteria, which comprise a complex and dynamic
system, with additive, presently unforeseeable influences on human health;
A. Damialis (*)
Chair of Environmental Medicine (UNIKA-T), Technical University of Munich,
Augsburg, Germany
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research
Center for Environmental Health, Augsburg, Germany
e-mail: thanos.damialis@tum.de
C. Traidl-Hoffmann
Chair of Environmental Medicine (UNIKA-T), Technical University of Munich,
Augsburg, Germany
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research
Center for Environmental Health, Augsburg, Germany
CK-CARE – Christine Kühne Center for Allergy Research and Education,
Davos, Switzerland
e-mail: c.traidl-hoffmann@tum.de
R. Treudler
Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, University of Leipzig Medical
Centre, Leipzig, Germany
Leipzig Interdisiplinary Centre for Allergology (LICA), University of Leipzig Medical
Centre, Leipzig, Germany
e-mail: allergie-hautklinik@medizin.uni-leipzig.de