The pollen catcher is placed on the roof of the building. (The building should besituated representative enough for its surroundings, from which the information is given, thusnot near a factory or a chimney).The pollen catcher (pollen toils) - is a barrel with a vacuum cleaner, which draws in the airfrom the room and directs its flow with the help of the jet onto the adhesive tape.
All caught elements, which the air consists of, get caught on the adhesive tape. The tape isfixed on the inside of the barrel, which turns around slowly (360 degrees in seven days).The tape is removed from the barrel after a week, and is finally cut into seven piecesthat stand for particular days of the week. The pollen, which is caught on the rape, is colouredand finally evaluated under the microscope. Of course, these evaluations can be done only bythe experts, who can recognise and define the particular type of pollen drain according to itscolour, form and size.In addition to the type of pollen, the measurement of the pollen in the air has beenevaluated, as well.
The results are converted into 1 cubic metre. It is important, since thepatients react clinically to certain amount of the pollen in the air. The plants and flowers differin the aggressiveness from each other. To start the symptoms of the allergic reaction, 50pollen grains in 1 cubic metre are usually sufficient. While in season, the pollen count isseveral times higher.The pollen station sends the information to the centre (Štrbské Pleso in SR), whichprocesses the information and sends them to the central office in Vienna. At the same time,once in a week, it distributes the information to several doctors and public mass media.
The pollen calendar
The central office in Vienna under Dr. Siegfried Jäger processes the data fromEuropean pollen stations on the basis of the information gained. It enables to publish thepollen calendar periodically. It is a document - a map, which covers the pollen in the air indifferent European countries according to the months of the year.The calendar is important for all sufferers. The up–to-date month by month situationof the area where we are living at can be found here.We can find here the pollen situation in other countries, as well, which plays a significant rolefor everyone who is planning to travel abroad.The summary of the pollens in our country is shown in the following picture. Thevacation guideline for the allergic people can be found in the chapter Allergy on the road.