Fungal spores, a significant but often overlooked allergy, are now appearing earlier in the year due to climate change. If your springtime allergies have felt sneezier and sneezier, you might be right.
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Wu and her team analyzed nearly 20 years of data from 55 pollen-monitoring stations across the continental U.S. These sites, part of thenetwork, track airborne allergens like pollen and spores. They found that by 2022, the average fungal spore season began 22 days earlier than it did in 2003. The reason for this, according to Zhu, is California’s Mediterranean climate, which leads to a different spore calendar than the rest of the country. “With higher concentrations in the winter and springtime and lower in the summer. This is different from the other states, other areas where the climate is different,” Zhu said.Spore release is influenced by climate conditions like temperature, humidity, and wind, but responses vary by species, according to Zhu.
“The goal of our study is twofold. One is to assess the public health impacts, but on the other hand, we also want to look at the ecological impact,” Zhu said.
Change Climate Fungal Spore Spring
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Fungal infections are getting harder to treatKaitlin Sullivan is a contributor for NBCNews.com who has worked with NBC News Investigations. She reports on health, science and the environment and is a graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York.
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