March 11, 2002	Monday	Zilhaj 26, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, March 10: A set of recommendations submitted to the chief executive secretariat last year, suggesting measures to control the problem of pollen allergy in the federal capital is still lying dormant with the authorities.

An official source told Dawn that a four-member committee was set up by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) last year, though without official notification and the committee has not held a single meeting till date.

With the onset of spring the scourge of pollen allergy will strike the residents of the Capital with full force.

Pollen allergies specially in Islamabad has become a public health issue, which if not properly controlled, could pose a problem of endemicity.

A large number of people in Islamabad suffer from asthma, allergic rhinitis and other allergic symptoms in the spring and fall. Some have fatal asthmatic problems and even deaths had been reported due to severe allergy attacks.

A study conducted by the National Institute of health (NIH) identified 75 species out of 300 flowering plants in Islamabad that cause allergies. Out of 75, about 25 cause severe allergic diseases.

The recommendations prepared by NIH, suggested that Australian experience must be followed, where a special kind of insects were brought to get rid of allergy causing plants.

Dr Shahid Abbas, chief allergy, clinical and tropical diseases, research division NIH said Australians used insects for attacking different parts of the plants like one specie would damage the roots of the plant, while the other would attack leaves and flowers.

“With biological control, the problem of pollen allergy could be solved without disturbing the ecology. Besides, non- allergy plants could replace the male paper mulberry tree which is the main source of allergy in Islamabad,” he said.

The recommendation also suggested that the NIH and the National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) should develop genetically engineered insects specific for roots, leaves and flowers. These insects should feed only on the paper mulberry plants. This would help the other relatively safer plants to grow while eliminate the major source of allergy plants including the paper mulberry.

Dr Shahid said that paper mulberry and pine pollens were in very high number in March and April while others produce moderately high pollen from March to June.

Dr Abbas explained that paper mulberry produces catkins and each catkins could have around 200 flowers and each flower produces about three million pollens whereas each flower of pine produces 160,000 pollens. “One can imagine the number of pollens, which can be produced by one plant of a paper mulberry or pine.”

Similarly, from the 18 kind of grasses in Islamabad some produce pollens in spring (March to May), some produce in fall (July to September) while others produce pollen throughout the year. This has very severely effects patients suffering from allergies.

He suggested that people suffering from pollen allergies must remember the timings of rise and fall of pollen count during the day. Pollen was in low concentration from 10am to around 5pm and in high concentration from 5am to 10am and again from around 5 pm to midnight.

He said they must stay indoors before 10am and after 5pm during the pollen season and if they have to go outdoors they must have wear the face masks.

Dr Abbas said patients should not take more medicine than recommended in an attempt to get better within a short time as this desperate measure could have serious side effects.

Patients should not mown lawns or gardening during this season as mowing could stir the pollens. Similarly they should not exert or exhaust themselves and children suffering from pollen allergies should avoid playing outdoors and should not water the indoor plants as it would wet the soil and moulds flourish in wet soil.