Don’t suffer in silence

Kimberley Lloyd-Rees looks at the solutions available to fight hay fever.

Hay fever, or seasonal rhinitis, may be common in the UK, but it’s no less miserable for anyone for whom the start of spring means itchy eyes, sneezes and a blocked, runny nose.

Weather patterns contribute to the amount of pollen produced, how it will disperse and its potency. A temperature between 18-28ºC when it’s dry, with low humidity and minimal breeze, will usually mean a high pollen count. But if it gets warmer than that, the count will decrease. Heavy rain in the morning tends to keep the pollen count low for the afternoon, but occasional wet days, recurring over many months, tend to mean a severe hay fever season overall.

Due to climate change, we can expect hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters in the UK. Among the many public health impacts of climate change are invasive plant species being able to flourish; ragweed is one, which produces vast quantities of pollen capable of causing severe allergic disease. Air pollution from traffic in combination with pollen can also trigger hay fever symptoms and make them worse. You may have heard anecdotal evidence from people who say they enjoyed a temporary respite from their seasonal allergies during the first national lockdown, when the roads were quiet.