Watery eyes, uncontrollable sneezes: those with hay fever will not have it easy this month. A suddenly emerging pollen peak will cover a large part of the Netherlands in purple this Thursday and Friday: according to Hooikoortsradar.nl there is ‘excessive pollen’ in the air.
Why is there so much pollen now?
This has everything to do with the relatively wet, cold spring, explains biologist Maurice Martens. According to Martens, there is now an ‘exceptional concentration’ of grass pollen in the air, which pollen causes hay fever in 4 million Dutch people.
The foxtail, a grass species, normally blooms from the end of March. Not this year because of the cold. Now the flowering period coincides with that of other grass species, such as rarefied and soft dravik, crocodile and glossy oat alms. The wet month of May has also allowed all that grass to grow considerably. The hay fever complaints also come on quite suddenly: a few weeks ago there were hardly any complaints and now a lot.
“The weather has been nice for some time now, so the air is not being washed clean,” explains Martens. “The pollen content in the air is only increasing.” The KNMI does not predict rain until Wednesday.
How do I know if I have hay fever or corona?
With corona, the sneezing shame in the Netherlands also spread. After many ‘hatsjoe’, this moment follows in the same breath through the incantation: “It’s hay fever!” But hey, how can you be sure?
RIVM assumes that many people with hay fever feel for themselves whether it is the hay fever symptoms they are familiar with or not. Due to the delay in the grass bloom this year, it is possible that the complaints will be a bit later than usual this year: only now, instead of already in May.
But that is never completely certain, says allergist Sanne Ruikes on the website of the Rotterdam Maasstad Hospital. In any case, watery and itchy eyes are clearly part of hay fever. Fever clearly doesn’t (despite the name).
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From here on, the distinction gets blurred. A runny nose and sneezing are part of hay fever, but can also be the start of the symptoms of covid, according to RIVM. A sudden onset cough is one of the most striking symptoms of Covid, but – unfortunately – sometimes also occurs with hay fever.
Unlike covid, hay fever responds to anti-allergy medications. But yes, if there is as much pollen in the air as this week, it may be that medication does not remove all complaints.
When should you be tested as a hay fever patient?
Unfortunately, anyone who has hay fever can also have starting corona, and the hay fever can make it more difficult to distinguish the complaints properly. Anyone who has complaints in addition to his normal hay fever complaints that he or she does not fully recognize should therefore still go to the GGD test street. When in doubt, test according to the RIVM.
Also read:
In a week from minus 15 to sunny spring weather, can nature handle that?
Within a week from freezing cold and snow to temperatures above 10 degrees. How nature reacts to this?
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