Monitoring pollinosis and airborne pollen in a Rome university

Pollen allergies and airborne pollen weremonitored at the University of Rome ``TorVergata'' in 1999 in order to determine theconcentration and the quality of airbornepollen belonging to allergenic plants inrelationship to the prevalence of pollenallergies.Airborne pollen was monitored by volumetrictrap while data on allergies were collectedthrough a questionnaire distributed to theUniversity personnel belonging to variousworking categories. Meteorological data wereobtained through a daily monitoring carried outby a meteorological station while plantanthesis identification was done at theHerbarium of the University.Results indicated that prevalent allergies weredue to Gramineae, Urticaceae and Oleaceaepollen. Many subjects suffering from allergiesdid not know the responsible allergen(s) andmore than half of the allergic subjects statedto have allergic relatives.Data on pollen monitoring and prevalence ofallergies, collected in the same geographicalarea, were found to be in accordance with eachother, with the exception of the case ofCupressaceae/Taxaceae plants, whose pollen wasfound in high concentration although no case ofallergy due to this pollen was established.