The IRM has issued a grass pollen alert in Belgium. To talk about these substances and the allergies they cause in certain people, Olivier Michel, pneumo-allergist at Chirec was our guest on Bel RTL evening. Speaking to Frédéric Delfosse, he gives instructions on how to protect yourself from these allergies. He also mentions a probable reason for this grass alert.
Are there any behaviors to adopt to avoid being exposed to these pollens when you are sensitive?
The only solution is to leave the country and take refuge in a country where there are no grasses yet. This is obviously a very complicated solution and therefore to be more pragmatic, the only good solution is to stay at home and avoid being exposed to the outside air. Pollens are still mainly concentrated at the atmospheric level.
Should the room be ventilated to quickly renew the air?
You have to take shelter. Ventilation will suspend fine particles in the air which contain pollen and which will come into contact much more easily with the eyes, nose, respiratory tract and cause all the symptoms of hay fever because it is that’s what it’s about. So ventilation, I would say mechanical, no. In any case for this type of allergy. On the other hand, protect yourself, stay inside buildings. If there are really very, very significant pollen peaks and we are very, very allergic to these pollens.
Is wearing a mask effective?
So if we use masks, we will have to use highly efficient masks. The famous FFP2 or 3. The usual masks that we use a lot to protect ourselves from Covid will have little action. These masks essentially aim to limit the spread of viruses from the air of the person wearing the mask. Here we want to have the opposite effect. We want to protect ourselves against the risk of breathing particles that come from outside. So these masks will have relative effectiveness unless you use highly efficient masks.
Are medications the only solution?
So medications are very effective, but sometimes they are not enough. In this case, desensitization is used, either by injection or orally. These are long-term treatments that will last two to three years. So these are important decisions for the patient who will benefit from them.
Now, there is undoubtedly a preventive measure, which is to try to limit the production of grass pollen. We have noticed that for two years, we have had extremely high rates in Belgium, particularly in Brussels, compared to the average of the previous ten years. And we can ask ourselves the question in relation to the recommendations that are made concerning the maintenance of public parks, roadways, etc. Where we finally let the grasses grow freely. This is undoubtedly very interesting from an environmental point of view. Maybe there is a flip side of the coin which is more pollen production and therefore a little more trouble.
pollen allergy grass pollen
