Almost one in six people believe hay fever can spread like the common cold, a survey has revealed.
High pollen counts are expected in parts of the country across the Bank Holiday weekend, but research by the Met Office found many are unaware of the causes and symptoms of the allergy.
The forecaster urged sufferers to check pollen levels daily throughout the summer to help monitor their condition.
Of 2,000 British people surveyed, 16% thought hay fever could be passed from person to person.
Around a fifth (21%) did not realise a runny nose could be a symptom of hay fever and one in five (22%) thought sufferers should keep the windows open to let clean air inside when they were affected.
More than a third (36%) believed pollen count was measured by a society of beekeepers, who record the number of bees pollinating plants in their local areas, rather than by monitoring sites across the country.
High and medium pollen counts are expected over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Temperatures could reach 27C (81F) on Monday and between 23C (73F) and 24C (75F) is forecast widely, the Met Office said.
This could make it the hottest early May Bank Holiday on record, breaking the 23.6C (74F) previously set on May 3 1999.
Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said: “If you get a big spell of dry, warm weather you expect the pollen counts to go up.”
Lloyds Pharmacy, which has joined forces with the Met Office to provide advice to sufferers, recommends keeping windows closed when at home and overnight as most pollen is released in the early morning and falls to the ground in the evenings when the air cools.
It also suggests showering and washing hair after being outside to remove any pollen.
There are 30 different types of pollen in the UK, with tree, grass and weed being the main ones, the Met Office said.
Tree pollen is the most prevalent at this point in the season, but grass pollen – which affects around 95% of sufferers – will build throughout May.
Urban areas often have lower pollen counts than the countryside, but the combination of air pollution and pollen can bring on hay fever symptoms.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here