Several pharmacies that SVT has been in contact with have a unanimous view that pollen affects unusually many people right now.
Apotek hjärtat, for example, states that its sales of allergy medication have doubled since 2019 and are 34 percent higher this year compared to the previous record year of 2021.
A lot of pollen this year
And it's a heavy pollen year this year. But not unusually powerful. Both 2021 and 2019 had higher levels of birch pollen than this year, according to Kristina Westner at the Palynological Laboratory at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, which collects and analyzes pollen data from all over the country.
"The pollen levels and the reactions of allergy sufferers do not always match," she says.
Different strong pollen
Are there more or less potent pollens? So that you can become more allergic one year, even though the amount of pollen is the same as in previous years?
"It can, but it's unknown at the moment. There is no research on that, yet," says Kristina Westner.