Climate change has led to a sharp rise in the number of people suffering from hay fever in Switzerland. A hundred years ago hay fever was largely unknown in Switzerland, but today it affects around one in five people in Switzerland.
Climate change has led to many allergy-causing plants releasing their pollen earlier and with greater intensity, according to a factsheet published by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) on Tuesday. Climate change also favours the spread of invasive, highly allergenic plants such as ragweed.
Air pollution could also have contributed to the spread of hay fever. According to the researchers, plants stressed by poor air quality appear to produce pollen that triggers stronger allergic reactions. Air pollution can also damage people’s airways, which promotes asthma and hay fever.
According to the factsheet, an estimated 0.8% of the population were allergic to pollen in 1926. Today, it is estimated that around 20% of people in Switzerland are affected. The increase in the frequency of allergies is therefore a global phenomenon.
In addition to the impact on the quality of life of those affected, this also has economic consequences: “In Switzerland, it is estimated that they amount to between CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion) and CHF4 billion a year,” the factsheet says. This includes both direct costs for medication or hospitalisation as well as indirect costs due to reduced productivity and missed school and workdays.
The factsheet was compiled by researchers from the Swiss Commission for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, SCNAT and the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss).
The researchers propose a series of measures to combat this. These include limiting climate change and air pollution, combating invasive species, appropriate planting in communities and a warning system.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Zurich court continues Gazprombank trial against bank employees
This content was published on
The court will not allow the Gazprom Bank trial to be called off, rejecting defence lawyers' motions that the trial be dismissed.
Catholic Church asks for more time to set up abuse help centres
This content was published on
More than six months after a study of abuse in the Catholic Church, officials on Monday announced that, “there are still many unanswered questions.”
This content was published on
The government is planning agreements or negotiating treaties with the EU on topics of health, food safety and air transport.
This content was published on
The underwater platform which should have carefully lifted the sunken ship from the bottom of the lake, has sunk uncontrollably and crashed.
Tariq Ramadan faces Swiss judges again in appeal trial
This content was published on
The 61-year-old Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who was acquitted of rape and sexual coercion, will be back before judges in Geneva on Monday.
Police clear occupied university building in Basel
This content was published on
Basel cantonal police evacuated the Department of Social Sciences early on Monday morning, and banned 20 people from the premises.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.