ArticleThe Science of the total environment2020
Pollen likely seasonal factor in inhibiting flu-like epidemics. A Dutch study into the inverse relation between pollen counts, hay fever and flu-like incidence 2016-2019.
Article in The Science of the total environment, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- LSTM-Based Recurrent Neural Network Predicts Influenza-Like-Illness in Variable Climate Zones.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2026Article
- Well-Controlled Mucosal Exudation of Undiluted Plasma Proteins Serves Innate and Adaptive Immunity.Scandinavian journal of immunology · 2025Review
- Chronic and infectious respiratory mortality and short-term exposures to four types of pollen taxa in older adults in Michigan, 2006-2017.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A Review of the Role of Pollen in COVID-19 Infection.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Common Pollen Modulate Immune Responses against Viral-Like Challenges in Airway Coculture Model.Journal of immunology research · 2023Article
- Environmental contributions to the interactions of COVID-19 and asthma: A secondary publication and update.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2022Review
- Environmental factors and mobility predict COVID-19 seasonality in the Netherlands.Environmental research · 2022Article
- Evaluating COVID-19-Environment Fit.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2022Article
- Comparable seasonal pattern for COVID-19 and flu-like illnesses.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2021Article
- Competing Bioaerosols May Influence the Seasonality of Influenza-Like Illnesses, including COVID-19. The Chicago Experience.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Does airborne pollen influence COVID-19 outbreak?Sustainable cities and society · 2021Article
- On pollen and airborne virus transmission.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- The relationship between cyclonic weather regimes and seasonal influenza over the Eastern Mediterranean.The Science of the total environment · 2021Article
- The effects of regional climatic condition on the spread of COVID-19 at global scale.The Science of the total environment · 2020Article
- An environmental and health perspective for COVID-19 outbreak: Meteorology and air quality influence, sewage epidemiology indicator, hospitals disinfection, drug therapies and recommendations.Journal of environmental chemical engineering · 2020Article
- Impact of the environment on the microbiome.Jornal de pediatriaReview
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1 author.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is uncertainty if current models for the Covid-19 pandemic should already take into account seasonality. That is because current environmental factors do not provide a powerful explanation of such seasonality, especially given climate differences between countries with moderate climates. It is hypothesized that one major factor is overlooked: pollen count. Pollen are documented to invoke strong immune responses and might create an environmental factor that makes it more difficult for flu-like viruses to survive outside a host. This Dutch study confirms that there is a (highly) significant inverse correlation between pollen count and weekly changes in medical flu consults, and that there is a highly significant inverse correlation between hay fever incidence, as measured by prescribed medication revenues, and weekly flu consults. This supports the idea that pollen are a direct or indirect factor in the seasonality of flu-like epidemics. If seasonality will be observed during the covid-19 spread as well, it is not unlikely that pollen play a role.
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