Researchers Believe Seasonal Allergies Are Worsening
Have you noticed that your pollen allergies are getting worse by the season? You’re not alone. Scientists from Columbia University Irving Medical Center have revealed that outdoor allergies have been getting worse.
Physicians across the country say the past few allergy seasons have been more severe as historically high numbers of people sought treatment for allergy symptoms, including itchy eyes, sneezing and running noses.
David A Gudis, an ear, nose and throat doctor at Columbia is certain that seasonal allergies are becoming more prevalent. He states that pollen allergies such as hay fever can have serious ramifications for some people because it often causes symptoms such as anxiety, depression and insomnia.
Experts from the university believe that while there are plenty of social and environmental factors behind this phenomenon, climate change is partly to blame. Studies have found that increasing temperatures coupled with higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have caused wild grasses and ragweed, which are among the largest pollen producers in the world, to grow larger and faster, and produce more leaves. This has allowed these pollen sources to expand past their usual turfs and flower for more months per year than they used to, resulting in increased levels of pollen in the air.
Lewis Ziska, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia, says these grasses and weeds tend to produce plenty of resilient, genetically diverse and highly adaptive pollen. With more pollen in the air for more months in the year, people who suffer from allergies are more likely to experience frequent and more severe allergic episodes. A study published by Zika last year showed that North America’s pollen season is now three weeks longer than it was in 1990. Furthermore, plants produce about 20% more pollen.
Folks are breathing it in for longer periods and are exposed to more pollen than ever before, Ziska says. In the Northeast of the country, he noted, the pollen season now lasts from March to November, with ragweed producing most of the pollen in autumn, grasses in summer, and trees in the spring.
Zika’s study also revealed that climate change has affected plants’ physiology and made plants more allergenic.
Decades of industrialization have filled the atmosphere with carbon dioxide that is now causing ragweed plants to produce pollen grains covered in spiky surface proteins that mistakenly trigger the immune system’s warning bells and cause them to overreact.
Cumulatively, the result is thicker clouds of more allergenic pollen grains in our residential and commercial areas.
As pollen becomes more prevalent over longer periods of time each year, there is an urgency for companies such as Aditxt Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTX) to accelerate their search for ways to modify the immune system so that cases of allergies and other autoimmune conditions can be reduced in severity or even eliminated.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Aditxt Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/ADTX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
Have you noticed that your pollen allergies are getting worse by the season? You’re not alone. Scientists from Columbia University Irving Medical Center have revealed that outdoor allergies have been getting worse.
Physicians across the country say the past few allergy seasons have been more severe as historically high numbers of people sought treatment for allergy symptoms, including itchy eyes, sneezing and running noses.
David A Gudis, an ear, nose and throat doctor at Columbia is certain that seasonal allergies are becoming more prevalent. He states that pollen allergies such as hay fever can have serious ramifications for some people because it often causes symptoms such as anxiety, depression and insomnia.
Experts from the university believe that while there are plenty of social and environmental factors behind this phenomenon, climate change is partly to blame. Studies have found that increasing temperatures coupled with higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have caused wild grasses and ragweed, which are among the largest pollen producers in the world, to grow larger and faster, and produce more leaves. This has allowed these pollen sources to expand past their usual turfs and flower for more months per year than they used to, resulting in increased levels of pollen in the air.
Lewis Ziska, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia, says these grasses and weeds tend to produce plenty of resilient, genetically diverse and highly adaptive pollen. With more pollen in the air for more months in the year, people who suffer from allergies are more likely to experience frequent and more severe allergic episodes. A study published by Zika last year showed that North America’s pollen season is now three weeks longer than it was in 1990. Furthermore, plants produce about 20% more pollen.
Folks are breathing it in for longer periods and are exposed to more pollen than ever before, Ziska says. In the Northeast of the country, he noted, the pollen season now lasts from March to November, with ragweed producing most of the pollen in autumn, grasses in summer, and trees in the spring.
Zika’s study also revealed that climate change has affected plants’ physiology and made plants more allergenic.
Decades of industrialization have filled the atmosphere with carbon dioxide that is now causing ragweed plants to produce pollen grains covered in spiky surface proteins that mistakenly trigger the immune system’s warning bells and cause them to overreact.
Cumulatively, the result is thicker clouds of more allergenic pollen grains in our residential and commercial areas.
As pollen becomes more prevalent over longer periods of time each year, there is an urgency for companies such as Aditxt Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTX) to accelerate their search for ways to modify the immune system so that cases of allergies and other autoimmune conditions can be reduced in severity or even eliminated.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Aditxt Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/ADTX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
