D2.506 - Mold amounts decreased annual concentration, even some species faded away with allergic sensitization rate in Seoul for 28 years

  The atmospheric mold spores have also been linked with human respiratory allergies. The number of spores in the atmosphere underlies seasonal variations. Spore patterns are less clearly manifested with weaker rates of temporal changes.

Change of allergenic mold species were evaluated and their concentration compared with the allergenic molds in Korea for 28 years. Aerobiological monitoring of atmospheric spores has been taking place in Seoul metropolitan, Korea for 28 years, Burkard seven days sampler was installed for that mold spores were collected, identified and counted. By using Weather data from National Weather Service, we investigated accumulated temperature, and cumulative temperature. This study focused on the evaluation of change of allergenic mold species and their concentration for 28 years.

The spore concentration of mold decreased and even some certain molds such as Torula, Stemphylium, almost faded away during this period. Climate change forecast changes in precipitation regimes, including longer, more intense droughts, causing desertification and promoting the expansion of drylands globally. Drought had a stronger effect on fungal community composition and induced greater functional loss. 

In conclusion, air pollution and climate change are projected to have potentially serious adverse consequences for human health. Allergenic and immune responses to a variety of environmental factors such as molds and pollutants have been clearly demonstrated to be associated with an increased burden of allergic respiratory disease. There were shown the correlation between allergic fungi amounts with allergic sensitization rate to them for 28 years.