Automatisches Pollen-Monitoring

Pollen are among the most relevant allergens in Germany, in addition to allergens from house dust mite, cat, and dog. There is no legal limit for pollen flight, as pollen flight is predominantly not caused by anthropogenic activity. Thus, monitoring of pollen is also legally not part of the tasks of local authorities that are responsible for the monitoring of anthropogenic air pollution. The German weather service (DWD) will, according to directive 92 of the health minister conference (2019), implement a Germanywide pollen monitoring as soon as suitable instrumentation is available. Pollen can be easily identified visually. Because ITassisted image recognition has been making rapid progress, it was only a matter of time until computers were able to perform pollen monitoring. Although the systems initially worked exclusively with image recognition, other inventions soon followed. Pollen are biological particles and contain tryptophane, riboflavin, NAD(P)H, and other fluorochromes. Commercial pollen monitoring instruments are currently available that are based on image recognition, including holography, but also on (multiple) fluorescence monitoring. The ability to automatically monitor pollen flight is scientifically established, and is now gradually being put into practice. Germany is the world leader here, but other countries are catching up. For Germany, visiting the website www.pollenscience.eu makes clear what is currently being developed. Which system will be used most is unclear, but in Europe several parallel monitoring systems are to be expected. It would be favorable if in Germany the same system would be used nationwide, because this enables intercomparing and synergistic method developments. For patients and physicians it is not important who measures what, as long as pollen data are online, userfriendly, free of charge, and relevant for their location. In Bavaria and a few other locations, this is already a reality (www.epin.bayern.de) as the state of Bavaria implemented and financially supports such a system on a longterm basis. It is to be expected that with the support of allergologists the same is possible in other states in Germany.