Different fungi contaminate allergenic plant pollen of various groups

Abstract

A growing interest to fungal spores is observed in Allergology during recent years. Some of them such as Alternaria are well- known factors of both persistent and intermittent allergic rhinitis. As fungi are ubiquitous, they may inhabit nearly every substrate including different parts of flowering plants. In addition, as we observed in recent years, pollen can carry fungal spores on its surface. As we have already shown, Alternaria and other spores can be associated with Ambrosia pollen. This might be practically important as simultaneous exposure to different allergen types can promote polysensitisation of atopic patients. Therefore, the aim of our study was to check pollen of early flowering alder for presence of fungal spores and compare the data with the fungal spore spectrum found on the ragweed pollen.