Sneezing on a golf course in the Algarve in September, when grass season at home ended months ago? Bermuda grass is a warm-climate grass that flowers through the long southern summer, and it is not quite the same as the meadow grasses you know. Our test checks IgE to its main protein, Cyn d 1, plus Bahia grass and common reed, as part of 300 allergens and allergen components.
Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) is a tough, low, creeping grass that loves heat and drought. It is a favourite for lawns, golf courses and sports fields in warm countries because it survives hard wear and dry summers.
It belongs to a different branch of the grass family from timothy, rye grass and the other meadow grasses that cause most hay fever in northern Europe. Its main allergen, Cyn d 1, is a group 1 grass protein (a beta-expansin). Unlike timothy, Bermuda grass has no group 5 protein equivalent to Phl p 5.
Bermuda grass does not cope well with long cold winters, so you rarely meet it in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands or northern Germany. It matters if you live in, travel to or spend long stretches in warm places.
The symptoms are classic hay fever: sneezing, a runny or blocked nose, itchy and watery eyes, and for some people a cough or tight chest on high-pollen days.
The clue is timing and place. Northern grass season fades in July. If you are still sneezing on a late-summer or autumn trip to the south, or after a round of golf in the sun, a warm-climate grass like Bermuda grass is a reasonable suspect.
Many people sensitised to timothy and other meadow grasses also show some IgE to Bermuda grass, mostly through shared group 1 proteins. The overlap is only partial, though. Some people react mainly to the meadow grasses, others mainly to warm-climate grasses.
That is why it helps to see Cyn d 1 next to the timothy markers rather than assume one grass result covers them all. Bahia grass, another warm-climate lawn and pasture grass, and common reed, a wetland grass found all over Europe, sit on the same report.
From a finger-prick sample, the lab measures IgE to the markers below as part of 300 allergens and allergen components. The timothy grass components, rye pollen and maize (Zea m 1) are on the same report, so you see northern and warm-climate grasses side by side.
A positive result means your blood shows IgE to that grass. That is sensitisation, not a diagnosis. Your lab report gives each value a class from Negative to Very high, a starting point for a conversation with a doctor.
Page last updated
One finger-prick sample checks IgE to 300 allergens and allergen components, from birch and peanut to cat and house dust mite. Post it to the lab, and about 5 days after it arrives you get a value for every one. Our plain-English guide shows you how to read them. €399 in total, €1.33 per allergen.
Around the Mediterranean Bermuda grass flowers from about May to October, peaking in the hot months. In tropical and subtropical regions it can flower for most of the year. It is rare in northern Europe because it does not survive long cold winters well.
Not quite. Bermuda grass belongs to a different branch of the grass family from timothy and rye grass. Some people are sensitised to both, some mainly to one. Testing Cyn d 1 next to the timothy markers shows where you stand.
In northern Europe grass season is over by then, but in the south warm-climate grasses such as Bermuda grass, plus weeds like wall pellitory and Russian thistle, are still flowering. A test that covers all of them shows which ones your blood has IgE to.
