Australia has some of the highest rates of hay fever in the world, with a combination of rye grass planes and changing weather patterns contributing to the unenviable title.
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More than 4.6 million Australians suffer from hay fever, which is often triggered by an allergic reaction to outdoor or indoor allergens like pollen and dust mites, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Even domestic pets can get hay fever, with cats in particular suffering from the springtime condition.
Now, researchers from Monash University say a daily oral tablet can provide long lasting protection against hay fever.
The sublingual immunotherapy pill (SLIT), which contains tiny doses of grass pollens, helps change the body's response to the common allergen, when taken consistently over several years.
Lead researcher on the study Professor Menno van Zelm said that within four months of treatment immune markers can change to indicate long-term effectiveness.
"We found several markers that changed already after four months of treatment and really changed the immune memory towards rye grass pollen allergy. These early markers can predict successful outcomes so patients know early on whether the treatment will be effective or not," he said.
The study of 27 patients allergic to ryegrass pollen found 92 per cent of people who took the tablets over three years continued to benefit two years later.
In 2016, nine people died when a thunderstorm asthma event struck Melbourne. Hay fever sufferers are vulnerable to thunderstorm asthma events, and it is recommended that people suffering hay fever speak to their GP to obtain an accurate diagnosis and follow their directions for treatment.
Professor van Zelm said patients on the immunotherapy pill did not report being impacted by the 2016 thunderstorm asthma event.
"We did a retrospective analysis on patients we had enrolled in a previous study, and we followed up those patients, and those who had taken at least one year of immunotherapy before that thunderstorm event, they reported no thunderstorm asthma. So it seems to indeed protect against severe thunderstorm asthma symptoms as well," he said.
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The medication is geared towards patients with medium to severe symptoms. The prescription-only tablet is a mixture of five pollen species, which are the most common causes of grass pollen allergy worldwide. Rye grass pollen is the most comment cause of pollen allergy in the southern states of Australia.
Common options for medical management of hay fever include saline and/or intranasal corticosteroid nasal sprays, as well as oral antihistamines, at the direction of a doctor.
Hay fever sufferers can take several proactive steps to prevent severe reactions, including: wearing wraparound sunglasses to stop pollen getting into your eyes, vacuuming regularly, putting Vaseline around your nostrils to trap pollen, and buying a pollen filter for your car or vacuum.
The Australian Pollen forecast provides local daily grass pollen forecasts to help people with allergies to grass pollen to manage their symptoms better.
