Meteorological variables connected with airborne ragweed pollen in Southern Hungary

About 30% of the Hungarian population has some type of allergy, 65% of them have pollen sensitivity, and at least 60% of this pollen sensitivity is caused by ragweed. The short (or common) ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia = Ambrosia elatior) has the most aggressive pollen of all. Clinical investigations prove that its allergenic pollen is the main reason for the most massive, most serious and most long-lasting pollinosis. The air in the Carpathian Basin is the most polluted with ragweed pollen in Europe. The aim of the study is to analyse how ragweed pollen concentration is influenced by meteorological elements in a medium-sized city, Szeged, Southern Hungary. The data basis consists of daily ragweed pollen counts and averages of 11 meteorological parameters for the 5-year daily data set, between 1997 and 2001. The study considers some of the ragweed pollen characteristics for Szeged. Application of the Makra test indicates the same period for the highest pollen concentration as that established by the main pollination period. After performing factor analysis for the daily ragweed pollen counts and the 11 meteorological variables examined, four factors were retained that explain 84.4% of the total variance of the original 12 variables. Assessment of the daily pollen number was performed by multiple regression analysis and results based on deseasonalised and original data were compared.