ALLERGY AND TRAVEL
If you react and develop symptoms when you travel, by car or by public transport, the most likely cause will be exhaust fumes, or chemical vapours from materials used in the vehicles. Other causes can be tobacco smoke fumes if smoking is allowed in the vehicle, or cleaning products, air fresheners, or disinfectants used in the vehicle.
It is also common, if you are highly allergic to moulds or house dust mites, that these cause you problems in vehicles. Moulds and house dust mites thrive in damp, poorly ventilated places; and cars, buses and trains (even if kept in garages or depots) are rarely dry or aired enough to keep them at bay. (If you feel ill when you first get into a car, or a bus or train just out of a depot, but improve as the vehicle warms up, then the cause is most likely moulds.)
There is little you can do to control moulds or dust mites in cars, beyond vacuuming with a filtered vacuum cleaner and keeping the car as aired and dry as you can. Some car filters will help reduce the level of allergen particles inside a car. For more information generally on controlling moulds and dust mites.
If you are very allergic to pets and animals, you may react when you travel in a vehicle in which pets travel regularly, even if they are not actually present.
If you are allergic to pollens, travelling by car or public transport in the pollen season can make things worse.
• Choosing a car
• How to drive to minimise problems
• Car maintenance and cleaning
• Public transport
• Avoidance measures for pedestrians *381\117\8*
