20% people in Mallorca affected by allergies

AS spring arrives, so do the airborne pollens which according to doctors aggravate the allergies that affect 20 per cent of the population in Balearics. Plentiful rains earlier this year had produced “spectacular” flowering which increased still further the misery of allergy-sufferers, said specialist Susana Ranea.

First the pines, which flowered in February and March, and then the cypresses had produced a continuing abundance of pollen in the Balearics’ air which was unlikely to disperse unless it rained.

Pollen levels from the Islands’ pines were similar to 2010’s but the trees had blossomed over a much shorter period of time, while olive flowers and grasses promised to produce a similar profusion of pollen, predicted the allergist.

Nevertheless, the doctor said that the Islands’ climate and humidity levels meant dust mites, not pollen, were responsible for most allergies.

Pollen affected approximately 40,000 allergy sufferers in Balearics, compared to the 160,000 sensitive to dust mites, she claimed.

Another Baleares doctor – ears, nose and throat specialist Dr Pedro Sarria – singled ou parietaria, a small plant native to the Mediterranean which flowered throughout the year, and olive blossom.

He agreed with Dr Ranea, however, that dust mites caused most of the region’s allergies.