One in three adults in France suffers from grass pollen allergies.
After the birch pollens, here are the grass pollen. A dozen French departments are in the red, they are at high risk for allergies. These are departments located in Brittany (Côtes d’Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, Morbihan), Pays de la Loire (Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire), Vienne as well as Corsica and the Var: they have the misfortune to currently combine a cocktail of three or four types of allergenic pollen: birches, cypresses, grasses and oaks.
These pollens can be transported by the wind over hundreds of kilometres. This is logical, since these small grains are in fact male gametes which are used to fertilize plants. But these airborne pollens are a problem for 30% of the French adult population. In these allergic people, when the pollen comes into contact with the respiratory system and the mucous membranes, the immune system overreacts, it produces antibodies, which leads to an inflammatory reaction accompanied by the symptoms of the allergy: itchy eyes, stuffy or itchy nose, sneezing…
The treatment is quite long
Pollens are the main source of respiratory allergy in France and the number of people affected by respiratory allergies has tripled in the space of 30 years. The explanation is partly environmental. Firstly, because the rise in temperatures tends to lengthen the pollen period and to move some problematic plants northwards. Then, because atmospheric pollution increases the allergenic power of pollens, by irritating the mucous membranes. In this context, an allergy can occur at any age, including adults.
For those who would like to get rid of this allergy, we can desensitize ourselves. One can already get rid of allergy symptoms by taking antihistamine tablets that block the inflammatory reaction. When that is not enough, it is possible to be desensitized. This “allergen immunotherapy”, works somewhat on the model of the vaccine: by gradually exposing the body to small doses of allergen – via drops or tablets to be swallowed every day. In fact, we are re-educating the immune system. The constraint is that it is a long treatment that lasts between three and five years.
