Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/sfs_9FLNONI   As pollen counts rise in the spring and autumn, the incidence of viral respiratory disease significantly diminishes.  This from a Dutch analytic study just published online by the pre-print server medrixiv.org.   The investigators, noting that the seasonal flu incidence cannot be explained by weather alone, show that as both allergic and non-allergic pollen counts soar, the incidence of influenza and SARS decline.  They suggest that the immune activation triggered by seasonal allergies actually prevents invasion of respiratory tissues by viruses including CoVid19.   Whatever the reason, this phenomenon is yet another good reason to get out into the greenery of Mother Nature.  Put on your mask and go to the park.   https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.05.20123133v2.full.pdf   #covid #pollen #influenza