As allergy season kicks off, the beetle emerges as hope for controlling an invasive, highly allergenic weed causing many people’s suffering
- More than 13.5 million Europeans suffer from ragweed allergy
- Study suggests using a beetle fond of this invasive plant
- The insect would limit the development of this plant without harming other plant species
Hope is born for the millions of people affected by seasonal allergies. In total, around 13.5 million Europeans suffer from allergic symptoms caused by the highly allergenic ragweed,Ambrosia artemisiifolia or ambrosia, leading to 7.4 billion euros in healthcare costs per year, according to research. A new study suggests that the leaf beetle, Ophraella communa, could reduce the number of people affected by the pollen because it likes to nibble on the invading plant. The findings were published in the journal NatureCommunications.
More than 2 million people could be directly relieved
Using data from the European Pollen Monitoring Programme, researchers have successfully mapped the pollen of the grass Ambrosia artemisiifolia. They then determined the levels of sensitivity to this herb in the European population to estimate the number of allergic people and thus arrive at the figure of 13.5 million affected by these allergies. “Assessing the effects of pollen on human health is a difficult task. It requires the collaboration of scientists from different disciplines, including plant and insect ecology, aerobiology, medicine and economics.”explains Sandro Steinbach, who participated in the study.
The researchers then attempted to estimate the effect the beetles might have on ragweed in order to reduce allergies. The results showed that this could reduce the number of people suffering from the allergy to around 11.2 million and reduce healthcare costs to 6.4 billion euros per year. “Our conservative estimates indicate that the biological control of ragweed by beetles will reduce the number of patients by around 2.3 million and healthcare costs by 1.1 billion euros per year, explains the researcher. Future costs of this management approach will be virtually nil since the beetle has established itself permanently and spreads on its own.”
Further studies are needed
The researchers specify that the beetle has no harmful effect on the environment. “We didn’t know at first if the beetle was helpful or harmfulrecognizes Sandro Steinbach. Laboratory tests have shown that it can be harmful to sunflowers. However, field tests in China and Europe could not confirm this conclusion..”
The researchers also stress the need for further research regarding the effects of the insect on human health. “Because this beetle was introduced accidentally in Europe and has not undergone a thorough risk assessment of deliberate releases of biological control agents, we started to investigate whether this beetle could damage European plant species. native, adds the researcher. Risk assessment is still ongoing, but so far we have found no evidence of significant damage from this leaf beetle to native plants in Europe.”concludes the researcher.
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