Allergenic pollen in the atmosphere of Kayseri, Turkey

Airborne pollen are important allergens that cause sensitization in allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma. Our aim was to detect the pollen in the atmosphere of Kayseri, to present a pollen calendar, and to detect the allergenic level of these pollen by performing skin tests on patients. Atmospheric pollen were collected by Durham gravimetric samplers in Kayseri between March and November in the years 1996 and 1997. In our study, we observed pollen belonging to 43 different taxa. The total number of pollen per cm2 was found to be 1,330.8 in 1996 and 1,182.5 in 1997. Most of the pollen were from the taxa Pinus, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Cupressaceae, Populus and Quercus in decreasing order. In the skin tests, pollen of the taxa Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae were found to give the most frequent allergic reactions. It was concluded that preparing an airborne pollen calendar could be useful for medical practice. Nevertheless the skin test data did not really correlate with the aerobiologic data, as skin test reactivity is related to the allergenicity of the pollen and not just to ambient exposure.