Do people react differently to different pollens?

There are different types of pollen and each individual react differently to each particular pollen type. Allergies only represent your immune response to substances that are not harmful but misinterpreted as harmful. Our immune response to each substance differs. Pollen is responsible for most cases of upper respiratory diseases like hayfever, sinusitis, asthma, and may trigger various allergic reactions if inhaled.

Types of pollen

There are billions of pollen types that can be easily understood if categorized as grass pollen, tree pollen and weed pollen:

Grass pollen

There are various types of grass pollen but here are just a few that are responsible for causing common allergies and infections, especially in the U.S.:

• Kentucky bluegrass
• Bermuda grass
• Sweet vernal grass
• Redtop grass
• Timothy grass
• Orchard grass
• Johnson grass

These types of grass carry a lot of pollen spores that waft through the atmosphere and cause allergies if inhaled. However, some people may not respond hyper-sensitively to such pollen.

Tree pollen

Trees produce numerous amounts of spores to reproduce, these spores are blown by the wind throughout the atmosphere. This type of pollen is not dangerous since exposure to it is through close contact with the tree. However there are trees that produce pollen that can be easily blown by the wind.

Trees that produce the most allergenic pollen include:

• Pecan
• Mountain cedar
• Ash
• Oak
• Birch
• Elm
• Hickory
• Box elder

Weed pollen

Weed pollen may also trigger allergic reactions and certain people may find the pollen spores harmful while others find it harmless. The most common pollen manufacturing weeds are:

• Ragweed - most common cause of weed allergies. A general ragweed may produce over 4 million granules of pollen per day.
• English plantain
• Lamb's quarters
• Sagebrush
• Redroot pigweed
• Russian thistle

Other topics on allergies:

1. Inhalants or Respiratory allergies
2. Is there a time of the day that gets worse for allergy sufferers?
3. Allergens