Monday, August 14, 2006
Manrique Cartin, Costa Rica senior, said he rarely got sick. But this summer, he’s been visiting Watkins Memorial Health Center, east of Robinson Center, more frequently because of a sore throat and irritated eyes and nose from allergies.
His allergies were worse at the beginning of the summer, but Cartin said he’d noticed things floating around lately, and thought that might have had something to do with it.
“If you can see stuff,” Cartin said, “I think it’s pretty bad.”
Allergens in the air vary constantly, but this year has had higher-than-average amounts of tree and grass pollen, said James Ransom, an allergist at the Allergy and Asthma Clinic in Topeka, 1123 S.W. Gage Blvd.
In addition to the pollen, outdoor mold is also negatively affecting people, the worst of which was a mold called “alternaria,” Ransom said.
Agricultural or soil mold is one of the most prominent allergens in the air, especially because of the wheat harvest, which tends to scatter mold spores into the air, he said.
Ransom also said that ragweed — a weed very prominent in this area — was particularly problematic to allergy sufferers.
Ben Combes, Inman senior, said that his allergies lasted longer into the summer than normal.
Combes said that it was inconvenient for him because he’d be sitting in class and his nose would start running. He said he always had to carry tissues with him.
“Actually, it’s kind of embarrassing,” Combes said.
People who have never had allergy symptoms before could usually tell the difference between those symptoms and other illnesses.
Allergies were usually coupled with itchy eyes and nose and fevers were often an indication of a cold or flu, Dr. Robert Brown said, staff physician at Watkins.
Matt Milburn, Rogers, Ark., senior, said that whenever he’d been outside he’d been sneezing more than usual and his eyes were watery.
He said that if he didn’t take medication first, he’d suffer all day.
His symptoms didn’t even exist before this summer.
“I don’t like it,” Milburn said. “I’ve never been a big pill person. It’s just another thing I have to add to my list of things to do every day.”
And the pill taking may not stop. Ransom said tree pollen reflects the moisture from the previous year, and with this information people could assume that the fall weeds would be “troublesome” as well.
Kansan staff writer Dani Hurst can be reached at dhurst@kansan.com
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