Queensland was not immune from thunderstorm asthma, a prominent respiratory expert has warned, as he called for more research into the pollen responsible for the potentially deadly illness.
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With thunderstorms rolling through south-east Queensland almost every afternoon, starting in the grassy west and blowing through to the more populated coastline, the conditions were seemingly perfect.
But Brisbane has not experienced the sort of widespread thunderstorm asthma problems seen in Melbourne recently, where eight died as a result of the illness.
Respiratory medicine expert John Upham said Queensland was less susceptible than Australia's southern states because of a combination of factors, but cautioned those in the Darling Downs, particularly, could still be at risk.
The bizarre phenomenon occurred when pollens normally too small to enter the airways burst into smaller pieces, allowing them to enter the lungs.
According to Professor Upham, Queensland's sustained humidity was actually doing the state a favour when it came to thunderstorm asthma, removing one of the key conditions needed for it to occur.
"Thunderstorm asthma is a bit unusual in that you've got to have a number of factors all lining up at exactly the same time for it to become an issue," he said.
"You need a big group of people already allergic to pollens, you need a season where there's a lot of grass flowering all at the same time so there's a lot of pollen in the air and you need a thunderstorm."
Most Queenslanders who mentally checked those factors off in their heads would probably say "bingo", but Professor Upham said there was one important ingredient missing.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine researcher said rapid swings in humidity associated with southern thunderstorms were critical ingredients.
"The feeling is that in Brisbane we're sort of humid all the time and we don't get those sudden things where it changes from being really dry to really humid," he said.
"That's probably what protects us from having such a big problem here."
Regardless of the risk, which he said was "unlikely" in Brisbane and "possible but not definite" in drier places in the Darling Downs, Professor Upham wanted more done to understand the condition, particularly given individual cases could have occurred before without anyone joining the dots.
Work was being done to track pollen levels in the air in Queensland, but the clinical scientist wanted more to be done.
Queensland University of Technology's Janet Davies, a colleague of Professor Upham, was working on a national pollen mapping project that would use satellites to track pollen levels.
Associate Professor Davies said she hoped the national pollen network would allow hay fever sufferers to better manage their conditions.
Professor Upham called on anyone with even minor asthma to get their treatment plan under control, saying most of the worst affected Melburnians had less severe asthma.
