“Some people don’t know what they are allergic to, so being aware of it (the pollen levels) links your symptoms to what is in the air. Those who suffer from pollen allergies can be empowered by the data, Peter explains. The data collected in this way can be used by people with pollen allergies, doctors and researchers working in various scientific disciplines. Why is it important to track pollen levels?
The data from this trap, and SAPNET’s other spore traps, is then sent to the team at UCT, where it is analysed, after which a report is uploaded to the internet and made available on a website that is open to the public. “We identify the pollen and analyse them, and then it can be calculated how much pollen you have in one cubic meter of air, and from which species,” he says. The old strip, now filled with pollen dust, is mounted on a glass slide for microscopic analysis. Once a week the strip is collected and replaced with a new one. Basically, the spore trap mimics our human body… the little slit will be our nose opening,” Neumann says. “There is something like an engine, run by electricity, that sucks in the air. This is where the trap mimics the human body’s breathing process. “On the drum there is a sticky tape (or strip), and that catches the dust in the air,” he says.Ī little engine allows air to be sucked in through the slit in the chamber. The bottom of the trap contains a drum with a slit along the side, which rotates slowly, Neumann explains. According to SAPNET’s website, the Real Pollen Count, the machine is about 1 meter by 1 meter. Photos of the spore trap show that it resembles a mini gas braai, with a vane (which looks like a flat fin) at the back. Dr Dilys Berman, an aerobiologist with the pollen spore trap. The tripod has a chamber that can rotate according to the wind,” he says. “It’s located on a roof, and should be at least 3 or 4 meters up in the air. Neumann, who is also part of the SAPNET team at Wits, describes the little machine, called a seven-day volumetric spore trap, as resembling a tripod. “Pollen count data indicating geographical location, seasonal timing, and annual aerospora variations are now a new tool for clinicians to deliver effective diagnosis and treatment of allergic respiratory diseases in South Africa, where climate and vegetation are exceptionally diverse,” the article reads.Īccording to Dr Frank Neumann, Senior Researcher at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), the best way to track pollen is to use an ingenious machine that mimics the human body’s breathing process. The expansion (featured in an article in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine) resulted in pollen spore traps being set in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria. Before this, he says the only consistent pollen data that existed was from Cape Town. South Africa’s pollen tracking efforts expanded in August last year, explains the Principal Investigator and coordinator of the South African Pollen Monitoring Network (SAPNET) at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Lung Institute, Professor Jonny Peter. IMAGE: UCT Lung Institute PHOTO: Luca Prasso/Flickr Also, the nasal blockage can lead to sinus and ear infections,” she says. An airway which is soggy and swollen from allergies is more prone to viral and bacterial infections. Some people manifest mainly with a runny, itchy, sneezy or congested nose, some with itchy eyes, and some with full-blown asthma attacks. “The inhaled pollens can set off an immune response in the nose, the eyes and the chest.
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