Ragweed Allergy Heats Up With Climate Change

If you think your ragweed allergies are getting worse, you may be right. And global warming may be the culprit, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

That’s not good news for the estimated 36 million Americans who suffer from ragweed allergy, the primary cause of fall allergy symptoms. Ragweed season unofficially begins Aug. 15.

Global climate change is believed to be making ragweed season worse for allergy sufferers.

Recent studies suggest that increasing temperatures and carbon dioxide levels are already resulting in longer ragweed seasons and more concentrated pollen counts.

Researchers have decisively linked climate change to “longer pollen seasons, greater exposure and increased disease burden for late summer weeds such as ragweed”, citing among other findings that increased carbon dioxide has resulted in pollen production increases of 61-90 percent in some ragweed varieties.

Ragweed plant can produce 1 billion pollen grains in an average season. Due to the grains’ light weight, they can travel up to 400 miles with the breeze, leaving virtually no outdoor place ragweed-free.

Read more at Medical News Today

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