Allergies
Christmas Trees and Indoor Allergies
Filed in archive Dust Mite Allergies , Hay Fever , Living with Allergies , Mold Allergy by ruth on November 15, 2007
Christmas Trees and Indoor Allergies
Just a bit more than a month to go, but I know that a lot of you are already getting the trimmings ready for your Christmas trees. I know a lot who have opted for artificial trees, and they even have them up already!

If you have dust mite allergies, make sure you get your tree and trimmings a good wipe down before setting them up. If you're getting a real pine tree, note that they can pose a problem for people with mold allergies. According to this report,
"Our study demonstrates that a live Christmas tree can be a significant source of mold spores. Therefore, we recommend families with allergies in general and mold allergies in particular not keep a live Christmas tree in their homes for more than a few days at most, and remove it sooner if there are signs of increased allergy symptoms," Santilli says.

Rebecca Gruchalla, MD, PhD, chief of allergy at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, says the relationship between live Christmas trees and a rise in indoor mold spores comes as no surprise, particularly since most Christmas trees are cut well in advance of the holidays and stored in a moist environment before being placed on a lot for sale. Then they're then taken home and placed in water too, she says.

So whether you go for artificial or real Christmas trees, be sure to give them a good shake outdoors. Maybe even tie your tree to the roof of your car and drive around the block with it, or use a leaf blower if you have one.


Permalink: Christmas Trees and Indoor Allergies
Tags: mold+allergies  pollen+allergy  hay+fever  dust+allergy  dust+mite  allergies  christmas+trees  indoor+alle 
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/101969
img Addthis img Ask img Blinklist img del.icio.us img Digg img Fark img Facebook img Google img Lycos img Ma.gnolia Add this page to Mister Wong Mr Wong img Netscape img Netvousz img Newsvine img Reddit img StumbleUpon img Slashdot img Tailrank img Technorati img Wink img Yahoo

Vote for Christmas Trees and Indoor Allergies:

  • Currently 8.00/10
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
Rating: 8.00 out of 1 vote(s) cast.
 
Subscribe
Share It
Popular posts from our other blogs:
RSSrss
See all blog subscribe options
Google google
What is RSS?
Yahoo! yahoo
Addthis Subscribe using any feed reader!
Bloglines Bloglines
Newsletter

TwitterFollow us on Twitter!