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People With Christmas Tree Allergies Pine For Relief

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 29, 2007

O Christmas trees, O Christmas trees, your spores can make us all sneeze...

In 1969, Canadian researchers interviewed 1,657 allergy patients and theorized that as many as 7 percent of people with allergies may be allergic to their Christmas trees. That team theorized the culprits were pollens and balsam resins.

But a Connecticut allergy specialist suspects another source: mold. John Santilli says his research shows a dramatic increase in mold spores from having a tree in your home.

People who have allergies but want a live tree inside should have a family member hose off the tree outdoors, said Santiago Martinez, an allergist in Winter Park. Let it dry before bringing it into the house.

BayLife, Page 2

•For his study, Santilli measured the mold spore count in an apartment with a Christmas tree in it.

•For the first three days, the mold counts inside the apartment hovered around 800 spores per cubic meter of air, compared with a normal mold spore range is 500 to 700 spores per cubic meter.

•By day 14, the mold count had skyrocketed to 5,000 spores per cubic meter.

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