Dire warning for five million Aussies as weather heats up: 'Significant trigger'
Asthma and hay fever are almost instantly triggered when spring arrives. We spoke with two experts to help those with allergies prepare.
Spring has come early for many Aussies, as the hum of lawnmowers cutting long grass grows louder and gardens fill with thousands of blossoms blooming. But it’s not all sunshine and lollipops for everyone.
Sneezing, coughing, wheezing are an instant reaction to the nation’s 3.1 million hay fever and 2.8 million asthma sufferers. Australia is one of the world's worst places for allergies, with approximately 20 per cent of the population, or around 5 million people impacted.
Dr Chris Pearce, a general practitioner and board member at Asthma Australia, told Yahoo News he’s expecting the unseasonably warm weather will spark an early rise in seasonal asthma.
“It's a relatively instantaneous thing when the pollen sweeps across the country. As soon as the pollen hits you, it starts to kick in,” he said.
While most of us associate flowers with allergy symptoms, in Australia there’s another significant problem that can be even more deadly.
Tiny pollen that can be more dangerous than flowers
Dr Edwin Lampugnani from Melbourne Pollen, a service that measures the pollen in the air, told Yahoo News grass is a particular concern.
“It’s grass pollen and it’s actually stuff you can’t see. It’s a significant trigger for hay fever, and it's also a very important trigger for asthma as well,” he said.
“And associated with lots of grass pollen under very specific conditions, you can also occasionally get something called thunderstorm asthma.”
Thunderstorm asthma is a rare occurrence triggered when tiny grass pollens are swept up by wind and then breathed deep into the lungs. During a 2016 occurrence in Melbourne, 10 people died and 8,500 were admitted to hospital in just one day.
How is climate change affecting asthma sufferers?
For the moment Lampugnani believes determining how climate change is affecting allergy sufferers is hard to predict.
"I think one of the more difficult things is it creates unpredictability in the weather, and that makes it a little bit more challenging to forecast," he said.
How can I get help with my allergies?
Anyone with asthma or hay fever is urged by Pearce to consider reviewing their preventative medical strategy.
“Most people would know of the sprays and inhalers you can use regularly, not just on an adhoc basis, and we’re trying to get the message out for people to get on to these early,” he said.
There are also several resources that allergy sufferers can use in Australia, like the 1800 ASTHMA (278 462) advice hotline.
And a pollen forecasting service is available online. It allows Australians in most states to ensure they know when it’s most dangerous to be outside.
And if you’re in Victoria, you can also access a thunderstorm asthma warning service.
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