Parietaria pollinosis: a review

Abstract

Species of the getius Parietaria (pellitory) are a prevalent cause of allergy in the Mediterranean area and the tiiost important in sotne European regions such as southern Italy and coastal Spain (14,26,27,29,30,31,36,59, 69). Up to now, however, Parietaria has received little attention in northern Europe and the US because of its litnited regional distribution. Therefore, less is known about Parietaria allergy than about other inhalant allergens such as those of grasses, ragweed, and mites.During the last 5 years, only 31 reports on Parietaria allergy have appeared in the literature, as compared with 37 papers on birch pollen. This ratio may appear unbalanced, considering that millions of people suffer frotn pollinosis caused by Parietaria, while a much smaller number have rhinitis and/or asthtna caused by birch pollen.The increasing movement of people throughout Europe and to and from the US is reason to broaden our knowledge of patterns of inhalant allergy in each geographic area, especially where tourism and itnmigration are high.This paper briefly reviews available data and personal studies on the botanical, aerobiological, itnmunochetnical, and clinical features o^ Parietaria allergy.

Risk of pollen allergy in Nerja (southern Spain): a pollen calendar

“…Nerja is a locality that includes a rural area that has not been previously studied from an allergological point of view. The results obtained for the pollen of this taxon, together with its known allergenicity (D'Amato and Spieksma, 1991;D'Amato et al , 1992, strongly suggest that cases of allergy exist. Indeed, some gardeners working in the Nerja cave complex, have stated that they suffer from allergy-respiratory symptoms and we think that species of this family, such as Urtica membranacea Poir.…”

Parietaria judaica flowering phenology, pollen production, viability and atmospheric circulation, and expansive ability in the urban environment: impacts of environmental factors

“…Urban weeds of this family are known to trigger allergies (Gadermaier et al 2004). Parietaria judaica pollen, in particular, elicits severe pollinosis in Europe (Cosmes Martín et al 2005;Geller-Bernstein et al 2002;Loureiro et al 2005); in some Mediterranean regions, like southern Italy and coastal Spain, it is the most important cause of allergies (D' Amato et al 1992). In Thessaloniki, the second largest city of Greece, Parietaria ranks fourth after Poaceae, Oleaceae and Chenopodiaceae in inducing allergic responses by skin prick tests: in a sample of 1,311 patients with respiratory allergy symptoms, 15.3% were sensitive to its pollen (Gioulekas et al 2004a).…”

Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) 2008*

“…The grasses pollinate at the end of spring and beginning of summer, but, in some places such as Southern California or Florida, they are spread throughout the year. Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and Bahia grass (Paspalum notatum) do not usually cross-react with other grasses (363); • weeds such as the Compositeae plants: mugwort (Artemisia) and ragweed (Ambrosia; 364-366), Parietaria, not only in the Mediterranean area (367)(368)(369)(370)(371)(372)(373), Chenopodium and Salsola in some desert areas (374), weeds such as ragweed flower at the end of summer and beginning of autumn. Parietaria often pollinates over a long period of time (March-November) and is considered as a perennial pollen; • and trees: the birch (Betula), other Betulaceae (375)(376)(377)(378)(379)(380)(381), Oleaceae including the ash (Fraxinus) and olive tree (Olea europea; 382-384), the oak (Quercus), the plane tree (Platanus; 385,386) and Cupressaceae including the cypress tree (Cupressus; 387-392), junipers (Juniperus; 393), thuyas (394), the Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica; 395) and the mountain cedar (Juniperus ashei; 396, 397).…”