Pollinosis caused by the representatives of Gramineae family

Abstract

There are a large variety of plants belonging to different families in the Elbasan region, Albania. Some of them are of a high medicinal value, some are honey plants and some others are nutritive, forage and spontaneous. An important place in this variety of plants take the one with allergic pollen which cause irritation of airways in persons who are susceptible to allergic factor, including representatives of the Gramineae family. In this study are featured the allergic cases of 251 patients for the period from January 2018 to December 2019. Results were obtained after allergy trials with 8 herbal allergens of the Gramineae family [Avena sativa (oat), Cynodon dactylon (bermuda grass), Dactylis glomerata (cock’s-foot), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Phleum pratense (timothy grass), Poa pratensis (meadow-grass), Secale cereale (rye) and Triticum aestivum (wheat)]. The study found that in 72 patients, Phleum pratense pollen is the main cause for allergic disease; the most affected age group by pollen grains of Gramineae family is 21 to 30 years, the male gender is most affected by pollinosis and allergic diseases are encountered most in urban areas, with 141 cases. The study was accompanied by photos of the plants in the habitat where they were found, by photos of pollen grains as well as graphs showing the variability of allergic morbidity between age groups and gender.