Australian airborne pollen and spore monitoring network interim standard and protocols

Despite the high prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma, Australia is one of the few developed countries without a standardised national airborne pollen and spore monitoring program. The growing public demand for an Australian Airborne Pollen and Spore Monitoring Network prompted the establishment of a standardised methodology for pollen and spore monitoring that can be applied by existing and newly created Australian monitoring sites. This Standard and Protocols document is designed to articulate best practice for pollen and spore monitoring that can be adopted and implemented nationally by all current and future aerobiology research projects as well as for Australian monitoring and forecasting services. It has been written both for the National Health and Medical Research Council AusPollen Partnership Project entitled “AusPollen: Implementation of a standardized national pollen alert system for better management of allergic respiratory health” and as part of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services’ thunderstorm asthma forecasting development program which is a collaboration between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and a series of academic partner institutes.