Sensitivity to olea Europaea pollen in different populations in Israel

Sensitivity to olive pollen was studied (by skin tests) in different Israeli populations suffering from respiratory allergies. The results were compared with aerobiological data, in order to correlate amount of exposure to prevalence of sensitization. It was found that in the Jewish population, sensitivity to olive pollen developed in direct proportion with the number of olive trees in the settlement: 66% where trees density is high, 29% where it is low. In the Arab population however, possibly genetically determined, the sensitization to olive pollen was low (only 14%) even though the density of trees is high.