Lew Ziska
Appearances
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
That's a very good point. And yes, they are. One of the things that we use as sort of a model for this is we looked at an urban environment. Urban environments are often called heat sinks because they're warmer than the surrounding area. And so we began by planting ragweed, which is a pollen source that everyone is familiar with.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
But we planted ragweed in a rural area in a farm, and then we put the same ragweed in the same soil along this transect from the farm to downtown Baltimore. And what we found doing so was that the warmer temperatures in Baltimore, the longer growing season in Baltimore,
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
The increased carbon dioxide in Baltimore allowed for an average ragweed plant to produce 10 times more pollen in that environment than it did out in the rural environment. So it's something that we think is having a direct effect in regards to the amount of pollen that you're being exposed to.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
But that rural to urban transect is sort of a harbinger, if you will, of things to come with respect to climate overall. In addition, we also looked at, for the Northern Hemisphere, different pollen sets that we obtained from really dedicated allergists and botanists throughout the world.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
And seeing that in recent, the last 20 years or so, that what we were seeing at the city level is also occurring globally, at least for the Northern Hemisphere.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
We're seeing increasing changes with regard to the sort of three stages of plant-based pollen. In the spring, it's primarily trees. In the summer, it drops off, but it's still there in terms of grasses and weeds. And then in the fall, it picks back up again with respect to ragweed, which is the primary pollen producer at that time.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
And what we're seeing is the concentrations are increasing, particularly in the springs and again in the falls, in regard to the amount of pollen. And also we're seeing that if you have storms that occur at that time, particularly lightning storms, what it can do is it can break the pollen apart.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
So it's not just one bit of pollen, but it's lots of little bits of pollen that in turn can inflame your lungs and make it even worse. So those are the things that we've observed so far.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
Well, they obviously have an effect in regard to undermining respiratory health, making it much more difficult. I know for myself, one of the things I always carry with me and I have since I was a teenager is my inhaler, my rescue inhaler. In part, I guess I chose the wrong profession. But this is something that can really be an effect in regard to how it feels.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
When you have somebody standing on your chest and it's hard to breathe, it's not very pleasant. And so we want to have this be recognized as an impact with regard to your respiratory health, but also recognize that there are ways and means in which to deal with it.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
Particularly young individuals and elderly are the most affected.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
One of the things that we can do, at least at the local level, is to begin to do a better estimate of when the pollen is coming about so we're prepared. But one of the ways to prepare is to make sure that you can close your windows, make sure the pollen isn't coming in, having HEPA filters within your home to process the air.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
And for myself, one of the things I do, particularly during high pollen season, is to wash my clothes more frequently because often when I'm outside, I get a lot of pollen on my clothes and then I start breathing it in. So I try to wash my clothes a little more frequently.
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SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
When you look at their symptomology and the effects of that, one of the things, of course, is to work with your doctor in terms of the medication that you need to take, whether or not you need to wear a mask to prevent large inhalation of pollen. There are a number of things that pharmacology and modern science and medicine can do to help in that regard.
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
Well, yeah, they've cut all funding, so it's hard to know what the next steps are going to be. One of the things we'd like to try and do is to look at the secondary effects of breathing in pollen, particularly in regard to the immune system. One of the things that pollen can do is to stimulate your epithelial cells in terms of your respiratory pathway.
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SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
And by doing so, it may actually increase your susceptibility for airborne viruses. There was some work that we were doing looking at how things like COVID and other airborne viruses could be impacted by pollen and the effects that pollen has on your immune system. That's something we think is important. We'd like to know more about it.
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SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
That would probably be the next thing on my list of research topics.
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SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
Thank you very much. We hope that this is something that we can do for folks who suffer, like myself, from allergies and asthma.
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SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
I'm happy to be here.
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SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
We've been looking at the role of changing winters, that winters are becoming more wild and that they're starting later and spring is starting earlier and falls are being delayed. That increase in the frost-free season is allowing greater exposure of plant-based pollen to people who are allergic to that pollen. So with that change in seasonality, in addition to changes in carbon dioxide,
The Excerpt
SPECIAL | You're not crazy. Allergy season really is getting worse
and other things that make plants grow more, we're seeing a increase in the overall amount of pollen, but also the time in which you're exposed to that pollen. So we think those are two of the underlying reasons why the pollen season is becoming more severe.