The COST-EAACI Meeting_IG Aeorobiology and Air Pollution

A COST–EAACI Meeting on Epidemiological evidence on the links between aerotoxicants and allergic diseases was successfully held on October 13 at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, with the purpose to collect major European experts to present the state of art in the field and identify unmet needs. This started from the pathophysiology of allergy. Successively, clinical and epidemiological data were presented on exposures to bioaerosols and chemical pollutants and associated allergic health effects having a major public health impact, including allergic sensitization, allergic rhinitis and asthma as well as intermediate phenotypes. Advantages from modeling of meteorology, chemicals, pollens and moving from pollen to allergen counts were put forward. Respiratory symptoms and diseases are among the most widely studied aerotoxicant-associated health effects, however the skin also constitutes a privileged outdoor target. Associated risks increase when chemical and biological contaminants interact. Methodologically, major attention was given to the threshold issue as no dose–response relationship has been established for most agents and knowledge about threshold values is sparse. Specific recommendations for standardization and homogenization of aerobiological data from the patient’s point of view were implemented.