The increasing mobility of Europeans for business and leisure has led to a need for reliable information about exposure to seasonal airborne allergens during travel abroad. Over the last 10 years or so, aeropalynologic and allergologic studies have progressed to meet this need, and extensive international networks now provide regular pollen and hay-fever forecasts. Europe is a geographically complex continent with a widely diverse climate and a wide spectrum of vegetation. Consequently, pollen calendars differ from one area to another; however, on the whole, pollination starts in spring and ends in autumn. Grass pollen is by far the most frequent cause of pollinosis in Europe. In northern Europe, pollen from species of the family Betulaceae is a major cause of the disorder. In contrast, the mild winters and dry summers of Mediterranean areas favor the production of pollen types that are rarely found in central and northern areas of the continent (e.g., the genera Parietaria, Olea, and Cupressus). Clinical and aerobiologic studies show that the pollen map of Europe is changing also as a result of cultural factors (e.g., importation of plants for urban parklands) and greater international travel (e.g., the expansion of the ragweed genus Ambrosia in France, northern Italy, Austria, and Hungary). Studies on allergen-carrying paucimicronic or submicronic airborne particles, which penetrate deep into the lung, are having a relevant impact on our understanding of pollinosis and its distribution throughout Europe.

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For the first time in Thessaloniki, Greece, 15-year allergenic pollen records were conducted. Clinical observations confirm that the pollen mainly implicated in respiratory allergy symptoms are grasses, olive and wall pellitory.

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In the last decade it has become clear that the timing of many phenological processes, like the start of flowering and leaf unfolding in spring, have changed. The increase in temperature is believed to be the main cause. The earlier start of flowering will have consequences for the start of the pollen season, and thus for the start of the hay fever season. Millions of people world-wide will therefore experience the impact of climate change in their daily lives during spring and summer. In this paper we analyse the relation between climate parameters, especially temperature, and the start of the pollen season in the western part of the Netherlands based on daily pollen counts of the Leiden University Medical Centre and temperature measurements from 1969 till 2000 by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in De Bilt. The results indicate that there is a strong correlation between temperature and start of the pollen season. An advance of the start of the pollen season of 3 to 22 days has been observed. The potential future changes in the start of the pollen season under climate change scenarios are also discussed.