If you get hay fever, minimising your exposure to grass pollen is likely to be useful. Fortunately, it’s becoming easier to keep track of the pollen count. But what do you do when it’s high?
It comes down to the persistence of symptoms.
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Melbourne’s recent thunderstorm asthma event caught services by surprise. So, is it time for a national health protection agency to coordinate our public health response?
This event wasn’t unprecedented, and we could’ve seen it coming.
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The recent severe thunderstorm in Melbourne caused hospitals across the city to be put on emergency alert as thousands of people called ambulance services, reporting severe breathing difficulties.
Hay fever and asthma are allergic conditions that inflame the lung and nose.
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The way our body’s immune system responds to allergens is very similar to the way it responds to parasitic worm infections – and some scientists have a theory for why.
If you’re one of the 15% of Australians who experience hay fever, it’s likely you’ve spent weeks sneezing, itching and trying to control a runny nose and cloudy head. So, what can you do about it?
Allergies are becoming more frequent in the western world.
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Allergies are reactions caused by the immune system as it responds to environmental substances that are usually harmless. But we don’t yet have a cure or the ability to prevent them from developing.
Climate change could make your hay fever much worse, thanks to three times more pollen allergens in the air.
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It’s now late spring, with summer just around the corner, and many people with hay fever suffer at this time of year in Australia. Although the cause of this suffering is invisible to us, it is actually…
Antihistamines are the first-line treatment for those with mild or occasional hay fever.
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Three million Australian adults – 15% of the population – struggle through spring and summer with watery eyes, running nose, itchy throat and the hallmark hay fever symptom, sneezing. When people with…
For around three million Australians, spring is rendered utterly miserable by allergic rhinitis or hay fever.
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For many, spring is the most agreeable time of year. But for one in six people (around three million Australians), this balmiest of seasons is rendered utterly miserable by allergic rhinitis or hay fever…
Should have bought the nasal spray.
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The excitement of sunshine and warm weather that comes with the approaching summer is tempered for some by the sneezing, itchy eyes and congested airways that accompanies it. Hay fever, or seasonal allergic…
There are numerous allergic causes of hayfever symptoms in cities, including grasses in local parks.
Mislav Marohnić
Spring brings with it hay fever and red eyes for many inner-city residents and in absence of fields of flowering grasses, people turn their attention to other possible causes. The most suspicious candidate…
Respiratory Allergy Stream Co-chair, National Allergy Centre of Excellence; Professor and Head, Allergy Research Group, Queensland University of Technology
Respiratory Allergy Stream member, National Allergy Centre of Excellence; Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
Staff Specialist General Paediatrician at John Hunter Children's Hospital, Newcastle, Australia. Conjoint Lecturer & PhD student, University of Newcastle
Senior Staff Specialist in Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at John Hunter Children's Hospital Newcastle NSW Conjoint Lecturer in Paediatrics, University of Newcastle