Pollen Allergy in a Changing World

Jae-Won Oh, MD, PhD, FAAAAI, Hanyang University  College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Seoul, South Korea

I. Introduction.-  1. What is an allergy?.- 2. Why doses a person become allergic?.- 3. Factors influencing clinical significance of aeroallergens.- 4. The importance of pollen counts.- 5. Why collect and identify pollens?.- II. Pollen collection.- 1. Purpose of standardized air sampling.- 2. Samplers.- 3. Pollen Sampling Methods.- 4. Operation.- III. Pollen identification.- 1. The appearance of airborne grass pollen grains.- 2. Other airborne pollen grains.- IV. Allergenic pollen images.- 1. Single grains (Monads) without apertures.- 2. Single grains with furrows.- 3. Single grain with apertures.- V. Classification of Allergenic plants.- 1. Anatomy of plant.- 2. Taxonomy.- VI. Pollen allergy and meteorological factors.- 1. Effects of weather on allergen load and pollen potency.- 2. Pollen calendars.- 3. Effects of weather on pollen flight.- 4. Forecast the pollen concentration.- VII. How does climate change influence allergenic pollen?.- 1. Thunderstorm-related asthma.- 2. Mechanisms for thunderstorm asthma.- VIII. How to diagnose the pollen allergy.- 1. Skin Prick Test.- 2. Intradermal Skin Test.- 3. Allergy Blood Tests.- IX. How to treat and prevent the pollen allergy.