Sneezing a lot lately in Montreal? It could be the mould

If you've been sneezing a lot, this could be why.

If you’ve been dealing with a sudden onset of cold-like symptoms in Montreal this month without actually having a cold, it could be a mould allergy.

This August has been the worst in at least five years for mould, according to data from Aerobiology Research Laboratories in Ottawa, which monitors allergen levels across the country and provides the information to the Weather Network for its daily allergy outlook.

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Basidiospores, which come from fungi — including types of mushrooms — appear to be the main culprit over the past few weeks in the city.

“A lot of people don’t think about spores as an issue,” said Aerobiology Research Laboratories director Daniel Coates, “but it really is sort of that hidden allergenic type that a lot of people can suffer through and not really put a lot of focus on.”

For the month of August, through Aug. 24, Montreal recorded 25,201 grains per cubic metre of air for basidiospores, compared with 13,049 for the same period in 2022; 10,180 in 2021; 22,578 in 2020 and 10,384 in 2019.

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Daily counts have fluctuated between 1,300 and 2,800 grains per cubic metres of air since the second week of August, which is considered moderate to high. There have been low levels, too, Coates said Tuesday, “but for a lot of the days, especially in the last week and a half, it’s been more in the moderate and high range.”

“It’s a bad year for basidiospores, and if you’re sensitive to them, yeah, you’re definitely feeling it this year,” he said.

Coates explained that mould thrives in wet weather, which has not been in short supply in Montreal this summer — the city received 212 millimetres of rain in July, compared with a 30-year average of 89 millimetres.

“July was a record-breaking month for precipitation totals for Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, as well as regions in the Montérégie,” said Jean-Philippe Bégin, a meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada. “It was the wettest month of July on record.”

He added that rain has been normal in August, but coupled with July, levels are above average for both months.

“Rain, humidity, fluctuations between warm and wet weather, cooler and wetter, helps with the growth of fungal spores,” Coates said. “So it’s been a good year for spores.”

Conversely, pollen levels have been relatively low this summer.

“To us, right now, it’s the mould spores that would be causing more issues for most people depending on sensitivity,” Coates said. “Some people can be very sensitive to very low levels of ragweed, right, it’s sort of an individual thing, but … right now we’re seeing more spores than we are pollen in the air for Montreal.”

Coates’s advice for those who suffer from mould allergies is to speak to an allergist for “the best solution for your situation,” but added that antihistamines and other methods — like staying indoors with windows closed and air-conditioning units off when levels are high — can help, as can wearing masks and drinking lots of water.

“Stuff like that helps to minimize the effects of it on your health, but we’ll always tell you to speak to your allergist because they’re a medical professional, we’re not,” he said.

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