From Deseret News archives:
Weeds agitating allergy sufferers
Pollen count high; no relief is likely until first freeze
Intermountain Allergy and Asthma Clinic's weekly pollen count shows the people who suffer from grass and mold allergies are breathing a lot easier. Even ragweed and sagebrush are in the "low" category.
But weeds in the chenopod/amaranth family — the pigweed, Russian thistle, iodine bush, lambs quarters, scale, greasewood and burning bush — are in the very high range, which includes anything above 50 on the pollen count. The chenopods are now at 92.
Other common outdoor allergens are pretty much not affecting people right now. But the misery's just getting started for people allergic to chenopods. And some people aren't allergic to just one thing. Some people swing from allergies to grass straight into allergies for chenopods, for instance. Some people are allergic to many, many things.
"We are seeing a lot of symptoms right now," said Dr. David S. Gourley of the Intermountain Allergy and Asthma Clinic. "Typically, in August and September, it's weeds."
The weeds are among the worst allergens and they're in vacant lots everywhere, he said, not to mention covering the hillsides. Pollen can travel for miles and miles and miles in the wind.
Grass pollens had an unusually long, just-ended season this year, thanks to the spring rains that "kept them going into July," Gourley said.
Although dust mites and mold make some people miserable, Utah's usually a pretty good place for those who are allergic. Neither is a big problem, compared to other parts of the country, because it's an arid state. "Dust mites don't reproduce consistently unless there's a relative humidity consistently over 50 percent."
After the freeze in October, most people with allergies will get some relief — unless they're allergic to cats and dogs, an allergy that doesn't take a seasonal time out. Plant allergies are pretty much gone during November and December.
E-mail: lois@desnews.com
