The annual "Shanghai Beach Sauna Festival" is coming as scheduled, whether you want to or not, every friend in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai can not escape the baptism of the warm plum rainy season.
Whenever this happens, a small spike in allergic rhinitis attacks also follows. The first thing many patients say is, "Doctor, I'm allergic to air conditioning!" In this kind of weather, sneezing when the air conditioner is turned on, and it is like a sauna if the air conditioner is not turned on. ”
Is there really an allergy to air conditioning? In fact, the real culprit may be someone else.
Since it's allergic rhinitis, it should always be related to some kind of allergen, right? Common allergens that cause rhinitis are pollen, dust mites, animal dander, mold, etc. Which of them are related to the rainy season? The answer is self-evident – it's mold!
What role does the air conditioner play in the rainy season feast of mold?
Mold is everywhere in life, especially in high temperature and humidity environments. The mold species that cause allergies in Shanghai mainly include Alternaria, Aspergillus, Penicillium and so on. During the rainy season, the humidity climbs, and the air is filled with an indescribable feeling of humidity, as if it can squeeze out moisture. Such an environment is a breeding ground for mold growth and reproduction. They thrive in humid environments, and the microspores that are constantly released into the air are one of the main causes of our allergies.
After a night of wind and rain, the black mold spots in the home quietly settle in every corner of the damp bathroom, kitchen, and even bedroom, releasing spores and drifting like dandelions in the wind, looking for a new habitat. For people with allergic rhinitis, these tiny spores can cause an allergic reaction with recurrent sneezing and runny nose.
So why do many people say they are allergic to air conditioning, or are they allergic to cold air? This is mainly due to the fact that the use of air conditioning accelerates the flow of air, so many allergens can float farther away and be more easily inhaled by our noses. In Shanghai, the first time to use air conditioning in summer is usually during the rainy season in mid-June. Many of my friends' air conditioners were put into use without disinfection and cleaning, and mold grew on the guide vanes and filters of many air conditioners. At this time, as soon as the air conditioner is turned on, the mold buns will spread in the wind and spread throughout the room. At the same time, in confined spaces, air conditioning airflow can sometimes blow away dust in some places that are easy to overlook, such as the roof of the cabinet, and fine particles or mites in the dust can also cause allergies to worsen.
It can be seen that it is not an allergy to air conditioning, and the main culprit may be mold from the air conditioning wind. Knowing the culprit, it is not complicated to prevent, thoroughly clean and disinfect the air conditioner, remove the mold and dust in the corner, and you can achieve twice the result with half the effort.
In this season of mold, allergic rhinitis is just one of the sin of mold.
There is another disease in our otolaryngology clinic that is also related to mold, and it is also prone to attack during the rainy season, and that is fungal otitis. When mold spores enter the ear canal, they can find a suitable environment where they can grow and multiply rapidly. In the outpatient clinic, we will take an endoscopic picture of the ear canal. The ear canal under the endoscope seems to be a secret jungle, and the pieces of mold mycelium are like a huge and towering mushroom forest, blocking the ear canal. In this case, patients often experience itching and discomfort in the ear canal, which can sometimes lead to swelling of the ear canal, increased discharge, and even hearing loss.
In fact, our ancestors have long known about this disease caused by humid weather. As early as more than 2,000 years ago, it was recorded in the "Book of Rites and Moon Order": "If the summer season is in autumn, the country will be flooded, the winter will be ruined, and the people will sneeze." "The general idea is that the goods stored in the winter after the flood are rotten and mildew, and the people sneeze and have runny noses. Although this is not the rainy season, it is quite similar. More than 2,000 years later, facing the same rainy season and the same troubles, we are fully capable of grasping and removing the culprit of mold.