Ragweed pollen season in the cities of northern Poland in 2016

This paper presents the course of the pollen season of ragweed (Ambrosia) in Szczecin, Drawsko Pomorskie, Bydgoszcz, Olsztyn, Piotrkow Trybunalski, Warsaw and Bialystok in 2016. The ragweed pollen grains are known as very potent aeroallergens, often noted to enter into cross reactions. This pollen is a common cause of pollinosis in North America, but in Europe the occurrence of ragweed pollen is not uniform. Measurements were performed by the volumetric method (Burkard and Lanzoni pollen samplers). Pollen season was defined as the period in which 98% of the annual total catch occurred. Seasonal Pollen Index (SPI) was estimated as the annual sum of daily average pollen concentrations. The pollen season of Ambrosia started first in Olsztyn, on the 7th of August and in Szczecin, on 10th of August (about two weeks earlier than the other cities) and lasted between the 14th of September and 14th of October. The differences of pollen seasons duration ware slight. The highest airborne concentration of 47 pollen grains/m3 was noted in Bialystok on the 29th of August. The maximum values of seasonal pollen count occurred between of 20–30th of August, only in Szczecin 9th of September. The highest grass pollen allergen hazard occurred in 2016 in Warsaw (5 days) and Piotrkow Trybunalski (4 days) and was very low.