Competing interests: JMD receives current grant funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (AusPollen Partnership GNT 1116107) with co-contributions from The Australasian Society for Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Asthma Australia, Bureau of Meteorology, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Stallergenes Australia, Meteorology Switzerland, Australian Research Council (DP170101630), the Bureau of Meteorology on a thunderstorm asthma pollen forecasting project, the National Foundation of Medical Research Innovation. She has received grants in the past five years from the NHMRC, National Foundation for Medical Research Innovation, the Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia, Asthma Australia, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland and a contracted research grant from Stallergenes (France), in kind provision of materials from ThermoFisher (Sweden) and services from Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology (QLD, Australia). She is a named inventor on a patent assigned to Queensland University of Technology granted in Australia, allowed in USA and three applications pending examination in Australia, USA, and Europe. JMD’s institute has received honorarium payments and travel expenses for education sessions and conference presentations from Stallergenes Australia, GlaxoSmithKline, Wymedical, and Meda Pharmaceuticals. FT and MH declare no conflicts of interest.