It’s allergy season! I am seeing mixed advice: Can pollen be “killed”/damaged so that allergens no longer cause a reaction? Like in a clothing dryer, with steam, or a bleach mix, etc?
Does it degrade overtime, or if some pollen gets on drapes, is it potentially able to cause a reaction for years, unless removed from the drapes?
Thank you!
In: Biology
Yes they can definitely die, they’re living structures that the plant sends out to carry genetic information. Some are very robust and can remain viable for over a year in harsh conditions, others are quite fragile and break down within a few hours.
Whether they’d still cause an allergic reaction or not after they’ve gone inert would depend on how intact the cell surface markers are – that’s whats getting your immune system all flustered.
Dead bacteria/viruses/pollen can still cause a reaction if they’re meaningfully intact. Your immune system can’t really tell what’s alive or not, so it assumes everything is a possible threat.
I’m sure it’s possible to physically destroy them, but managing to do that without also destroying your clothes may be challenging.
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