Winter was particularly long, but finally we see the end. The days extend, the sun is releasing its appearance, and the terraces fill a little more each evening. But for some, these small everyday pleasures are accompanied by a real ordeal: the return in force of allergies to pollens. Bad news for you if you are concerned: the situation does not seem ready to improve.
According to Vox, which cites a report from the American Foundation for Asthma and Allergies (AAFA), 2025 promises to be a particularly trying year for all people suffering from hay fever. In the United States, the trend is getting worse: one in three adults is affected, and one in four children. In France, the number of pollen rhinitis has tripled in twenty-five years, as indicated by an epidemiological report of 2008. The main official? Global warming. The increase in temperatures prolongs pollination seasons and encourages plants to produce more pollen.
The first pollinations, favored by the rise in temperatures, begin about 20 days earlier than 30 years ago, and some seasons are now overlapping, like those of grasses and ambrosia – two plants well known for their high allergenic potential.
For most people, seasonal allergies are tenacious and uncomfortable, but remain bearable. However, when they affect millions of people at the same time, they become a real scourge. Asthma, allergic rhinitis and other associated allergies lead to billions of dollars every year in economic losses, between work stoppages, medication expenses and medical consultations.
Fight against global warming
The increase in the number of allergic people is based on two major mechanisms fueled by human dependence on fossil fuels. The combustion of coal, oil and natural gas leads to an increase in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, encouraging many plant species to produce more pollen.
And do not believe that this phenomenon spares urban centers, quite the contrary. Urbanization creates an ideal environment for the proliferation of ambrosia, while pollen, inevitable, are deposited on your clothes without warning, transforming your day into a nightmare. This is why it is recommended that allergies change as soon as they return home.
Forest fires, too, release large quantities of carbon dioxide in the air, contributing to climate change and promoting the conditions conducive to allergies. A vicious circle that does not do anyone’s business.
Fortunately, drugs can be prescribed after consultation with an allergist. Antihistamines, spray, there is no shortage of solutions to try to relieve the enrollings. “We usually recommend starting treatment about two weeks in advance, because its action takes time”says Kenneth Mendez, director of AAFA.
The best solution remains, however, to fight against global warming in order to slow down the rise in temperatures, forest fires and other natural disasters that contribute to the increase in the number of allergic people in the world.
