Pollen allergies related to insect bites and water treatment plants?

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While researching vaccines as a cause for food allergies ( foodallergycauses.wordpress.com ) I learned about Nobel Laureate Charles Richet's discovery. Foreign proteins injected into the bloodstream of mammals sensitize the immune system and subsequent exposure to that protein causes an allergic reaction. It occurred to me that perhaps pollen grains are injected into the human bloodstream and cause pollen allergy. In other words, pollen surface proteins or food proteins are all treated as if they were proteins of invading viruses or bacteria.

How are pollen grains injected into the bloodstream?

One possibility is insect bites. Mosquito proboscis are about 40 um in diameter. Any type of pollen grain in the area that are smaller than 40 um in diameter can contaminate the proboscis when the mosquito feeds on nectar. When they feed on humans, mosquitoes inject saliva (an anti-coagulant) and the pollen grains can be injected into humans along with the saliva. The victim can then develop allergy to the injected pollen.

Pollen size table:

genus

micron

ragweed

ambrosia

16-27

mountain cedar,juniper

juniperus

25-36

ryegrass

lollum

22-122

maple

acer

20-51

elm

ulmus

16-50

mulberry

morus

17-21

pecan

carya

10-68

oak

quercus

24-38

tumbleweed

amaranthus

18-31

cypress

cupressus

25-36

parthenium

parthenium

20-30

pine

pinus

40-75

birch

betula

18-31

poplar,cottonwood

populus

25-40

cedar

chamaecyparis

25-36

olive

eleaegnus

24-44

sycamore

platanus

17-20

Source: www.pollenlibrary.com/‎

Smaller pollen grains are likely to be more allergenic if this mechanism is the cause.

If the above mechanism were possible, pollen allergy would be as old as humankind.

There is some evidence of a rise in pollen allergy in the industrial age.

Adjuvants (commonly alum - salts of aluminum/potassium) are used in vaccines to prolong and improve the efficacy of vaccines. Alum holds the vaccines' viral proteins together, protects the proteins and prolongs their exposure to the immune system. This improves the immune system's ability to develop sensitization to the viral protein and thus develop immunity. In other words, alum increases the immunogenicity of the injected proteins.

With vaccinations increasing worldwide, alum is injected frequently into people.

Another source of alum is modern drinking water. Water treatment plants worldwide use alum to treat turbidity. Similar function as in vaccines. Alum causes the suspended impurities in water to coagulate and settle or float, making it easier to remove them. Alum in trace quantities is therefore present in drinking water and can be absorbed into the blood.

In other words, immunogenicity of injected pollen grains probably increased in the industrial age as alum treated drinking water became more common.

Thanks.