Air quality has a detrimental effect on health and allergic diseases and the presence of pollen in the air has a significant impact on allergic symptoms. Being able to monitor the presence and quantities of pollen and fungal spores in the ambient air would considerably improve the prevention of allergic diseases. In order to do so, aerobiologists can use ambient air quality monitoring to detect biological particles (pollen and fungal spores) in the air. However, unlike the detection of non-biological components (ozone, nitrogen oxides, etc.), monitoring of biological particles in the ambient air is not frequently publicly funded and the data is not freely available. To address this important issue, this task force has made a review of the pollen monitoring stations throughout the world and created an interactive visualization of these stations (see below).
Interest group: Environmental and Occupational Allergy
Chair: Jeroen Buters
Secretary: Celia Antunes
Relevant literature:
- Buters, JTM. et al. Pollen and spore monitoring in the world
Contributors:
Project managers: Celia Antunes, Jeroen Buters
Database building: Ana Galveias, Celia Antunes, Jose Oteros, Jeroen Buters
Interactive map development and administrator: Jose Oteros
Members of the task force: C. Antunes, M. Thibaudon, A. Galveias, J. Oteros, C. Galan, M. Werchan, and J. Buters