ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Higher airborne pollen concentrations correlated with increased SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, as evidenced from 31 countries across the globe.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers.
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed.
- Etiological characterization of acute respiratory tract infections and associated co-infections using Biofire respiratory 2.1 Plus panel.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- The Impact of the Exposome on Epithelial Barriers: New Approach Methodologies for Translational Research.Thoracic research and practice · 2026Article
- Climate Change, Air Quality, and Pollen Allergies-State of the Art and Recommendations for Research and Public Health.Allergy · 2026Review
- Review
- Review
- 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
- Article
- Pollen and viruses contribute to spatio-temporal variation in asthma-related emergency department visits.Environmental research · 2024Article
- [Allergies in the light of global environmental changes].Dermatologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2024Review
- A Review of the Role of Pollen in COVID-19 Infection.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Hesitancy to Undergo SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Testing in China: Nationwide Cross-sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Rhinovirus-induced epithelial RIG-I inflammasome suppresses antiviral immunity and promotes inflammation in asthma and COVID-19.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Recent developments in the immunopathology of COVID-19.Allergy · 2023Review
- Regulation of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 isoforms by type 2 inflammation and viral infection in human airway epithelium.Mucosal immunology · 2023Article
- Efficacy of Do-It-Yourself air filtration units in reducing exposure to simulated respiratory aerosols.Building and environment · 2023Article
- Common Pollen Modulate Immune Responses against Viral-Like Challenges in Airway Coculture Model.Journal of immunology research · 2023Article
- Article
- Pollen exposure is associated with risk of respiratory symptoms during the first year of life.Allergy · 2022Article
- Impact of Selected Meteorological Factors on COVID-19 Incidence in Southern Finland during 2020-2021.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Associative evidence for the potential of humidification as a non-pharmaceutical intervention for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 transmission.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2022Article
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Abstract
Pollen exposure weakens the immunity against certain seasonal respiratory viruses by diminishing the antiviral interferon response. Here we investigate whether the same applies to the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is sensitive to antiviral interferons, if infection waves coincide with high airborne pollen concentrations. Our original hypothesis was that more airborne pollen would lead to increases in infection rates. To examine this, we performed a cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis on SARS-CoV-2 infection, airborne pollen, and meteorological factors. Our dataset is the most comprehensive, largest possible worldwide from 130 stations, across 31 countries and five continents. To explicitly investigate the effects of social contact, we additionally considered population density of each study area, as well as lockdown effects, in all possible combinations: without any lockdown, with mixed lockdown-no lockdown regime, and under complete lockdown. We found that airborne pollen, sometimes in synergy with humidity and temperature, explained, on average, 44% of the infection rate variability. Infection rates increased after higher pollen concentrations most frequently during the four previous days. Without lockdown, an increase of pollen abundance by 100 pollen/m
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