Monitoring for airborne allergens.

Monitoring for allergens can provide some information on the kinds and levels of exposure experienced by local patient populations, providing volumetric methods are used for sample collection and analysis is accurate and consistent. Such data can also be used to develop standards for the specific environment and to begin to develop predictive models. Comparing outdoor allergen aerosols between different monitoring sites requires identical collection and analysis methods and some kind of rational standard, whether arbitrary, or based on recognized health effects.