[Allergy to olive trees and Oleaceae in the south of France].

In France, olive is widespread only around the Mediterranean; 35,000 hectares are cultivated for a total of 3,500,000 trees. Pollen counts for 1993 showed a low pollinisation of olive: 60 pollen grains/m3 at Toulouse in a total of 29,972 pollens, 355 at Perpignan (total 56,323), 1138 at Montpellier (total 98,821), 515 at Nîmes (total 57,836), 810 at Marseille (total 143,497) and 976 at Nice (total 8,890). The other Oleaceae are represented by Fraxinus, which is very abundant at Montpellier with 1,147, Ligustrum which was found at Perpignan with 159 and also Phillyrea in the Montpellier region. A recent study by Mrs Rovira, made on the dossiers of consultants from the Service d'Allergologie of Ste Marguerite Hospital at Marseille (D. Vervloet), with all families taken together, found that Olive caused about 1/3 positives of grasses.