Pollen Is In the Air
Written
by Laurie O'Brien-Clark MA photos also
by Laurie O'Brien-Clark MA
As
a pollen counter at the Storms Bowdish Allergy Clinic I am privy to some
insider information...microscopic information! Summers is in full swing and so are
the grasses and weed pollens. The photo attached to this post was taken with my
iPhone 6 through the microscope eye piece under 400 power of Ragweed pollens.
These tiny unseen menaces are causing many of us to have increased
nasal congestion, runny nose and sneezing along with itchy, watery eyes. The
recent climate change, with increased rain and daily humidity averaging above
50% (most of the time), has also added mold and mildew to the Colorado
As a fellow allergy sufferer,
I joke that I am the President of the "Allergic to the Planet Club".
Those days when I wake up congested, or use so much Kleenex that I wish I
had stock in the company, I am always wondering: "WHAT is growing out
there??" Many of us could predict the cause based on our symptoms
and I am always happy for the affirmation of our pollen count.
Identifying the Culprit
"How
do you know what pollens and molds are in the air?” you might be
wondering.
Our offices in Colorado Springs and Pueblo
Our system is called a
Rotorod (which is a rotation impaction aeroallergen sampler) that spins around
for 1 minute every 10 minutes for 24 hours collecting pollen (upper left),
spores, bug legs, and debris on to silicon greased rods (see upper right). These
tiny rods are collected, placed on a slide holder, stained with a pink stain
and identified through a microscope.
What
we see looks like this:
In
this microscope field view the bright pink things you see above are the organic
material known collectively as "pollen". Pollen is defined by
Webster's as: “the very fine usually yellow dust that is produced by a plant
and that is carried to other plants of the same kind usually by wind or insects
so that the plants can produce seeds." These pollens come from trees,
grasses, weeds, crops, flowers and other plants. The brown and gold things that
resemble bugs are molds, molds are resistant to the stain. Our office is not
certified in mold spore identification as molds never used to be
as multifarious as they are today. The other objects in the
field are mostly dirt and debris and the black spots are what are contained in
smoke from a local forest fire. The recent abundance of rain and humidity,
as well as other natural phenomena has changed the allergic environment.
Our
counters identify all pollens by their distinguishing characteristics and count
the pollens in each field of one rod. When the counting is done we enter our
raw numbers in to a spreadsheet to calculate the amount of pollen per cubic
meter of air. This data is put into a graph to tell everyone the levels of
pollen and mold (see below).
Our
clinic is also a certified counting station through the National Allergy
Bureau™ (NAB™). All data is reported thorough this bureau as well as through
our website to local news media, social media such as Facebook, Twitter and
Google+ as well as to subscribers.
The NAB™ also helps define the parameters for our reporting
numbers so that we know exactly what low, moderate, high and extremely high
levels look like.
The
information below is from the American
Academy
The National Allergy Bureau™ (NAB™)
The
National Allergy Bureau™ (NAB™) is the section of the AAAAI’s Aeroallergen
Network responsible for reporting current pollen and mold spore levels.
The
Aeroallergen Network is comprised of pollen and spore counting stations staffed
primarily by AAAAI member volunteers who generously donate their time and
expertise.
The
NAB currently provides the most accurate and reliable pollen and mold levels
from approximately 84 counting stations throughout the United States , one counting station in Canada , and six counting stations in Argentina
Pollen
counts from the NAB stations are based on actual counts, which reflect the real
day to day weather events. Predicted counts reported on many websites may be
based on pollen data from previous years and general weather forecasts.
Reading the Charts
The
NAB pollen and mold spore levels were developed using the chart below. The
concentrations in the chart (pollen or spores per cubic meter) were statistics
from all certified counting sites. The levels correspond to different ranges
for each of the pollen categories and for fungal spores. The concentrations
were translated into levels based on the following:
• Low levels are concentrations that are less than the median or 50th percentile (i.e. half the counts were below the median.)
• Moderate levels are concentrations that fall between the 50th and 75th percentile
• High levels fall between the 75th and 99th percentile
• Very high levels are above the 99th percentile (99% of the counts are below this level)
• Low levels are concentrations that are less than the median or 50th percentile (i.e. half the counts were below the median.)
• Moderate levels are concentrations that fall between the 50th and 75th percentile
• High levels fall between the 75th and 99th percentile
• Very high levels are above the 99th percentile (99% of the counts are below this level)
Based
on these definitions, we suggest the following ranges for low, moderate, high,
and very high.
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* These mold levels were determined based on outdoor exposure to natural occurring spores in the environment and should not be applied to indoor exposure which may represent an entirely different spectrum of spore types.
These
levels and the corresponding ranges are based entirely on ecological
measurements, not on health effects. Because the data were from all certified
counting stations, the ranges allow comparisons between sites across the
country and may be more appropriate than a range based on local numbers. This
does mean that, for some stations, some categories will never be high. Because
of this, a few stations have determined the ranges for their own locations and
do not use these national ranges.
Every
week day our pollen counters labor to empower our patients with the best
information to help them to be self-aware of their allergy symptoms and some of
the possible causes. Our staff at the Storms Bowdish Allergy
Clinic works tirelessly with patients to make a plan to improve
their symptoms, their environment and their quality of life.
Our pollen counts can be found Monday through Friday at the following locations:
- www.stormspollen.com (text and e-mail subscriptions available)
- www.stormsallergy.com
- The Pollen report hotline: 719-955-1933
- Also look for us on: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and Google+
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