Yes. Allergists have suspected for decades that live Christmas trees, when cut down and brought indoors, can spew out mold spores that can trigger allergies in susceptible people.
Last month, in a small study presented at a meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, Dr. John Santilli of Bridgeport, Conn., documented the phenomenon.
Santilli, chief of allergy and immunology at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, asked a young colleague to bring home a Christmas tree and place a mold detector nearby. Mold spore counts soared, said Santilli in a telephone interview – from 800 spores per cubic meter of air in the first three days (normal counts are 500 to 700) to 1,400 by the fourth day and 5,000 by the 12th day.
“The longer you keep a Christmas tree indoors, the moldier it gets,” said Santilli. “Mold is Mother Nature’s clean up crew – mold lives on dying stuff.”
But there are other factors that can exacerbate sinus symptoms at this time of year, said Dr. Frank Twarog, an allergist and clinical professor at Harvard Medical School. Christmas trees emit terpines, smelly compounds that can irritate airways. Cold viruses are ever-present and the extra socializing we do this time of year can spread them further. People get so busy during the holidays that they often forget to take their allergy medicines.
And then there are the ornaments that are brought out from dusty attics and basements, said Dr. James Sublett, a Louisville, Ky., allergist who is vice chairman for the indoor environments committee of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
So, how to have a merry Christmas? One solution is an artificial Christmas tree, though if you use a fake tree every year, you should store it in a dust-proof container, Sublett said. Another is to limit exposure to a live tree – put it up just before Christmas and take it down three or four days later. Also put MERV-12 filters on furnaces to remove mold particles from circulating air and use a room air cleaner near the tree.
Finally, delegate the job of dragging dusty Christmas stuff to whoever is least susceptible to mold and dust allergies and have that person wear a N-95 rated mask while doing the job.