El Nino's (Achoo!) Allergies

By Christine Gorman

Dr. Susan Wynn, an allergist who practices in Fort Worth, Texas, first noticed the problem at the beginning of February. Dr. William Berger of Mission Viejo, Calif., picked up on it two weeks later. That was just about when Dr. Donald Pulver of Rochester, N.Y., realized, as he puts it, that "everybody, including my wife, was complaining about itchy eyes, stuffy nose, dry cough--the classic signs of an allergy attack." Classic, except that the allergy season wasn't due to begin for at least a month.

Then the pollen counts drifted in. More than 200 particles per cu m in Rochester, twice the normal high for early spring. In Mission Viejo the count was 171, and the olive trees hadn't even bloomed. "I had seven emergency patients in one day," says Wynn. "That's worse than at the peak of ragweed season."

Allergies in February? Record pollen counts in March? Blame it on--what else?--El Nino, the warm patch of Pacific water that has played havoc with the world's weather for months. Thanks to an extremely mild winter, trees across much of the U.S.--including maple, alder, cottonwood and oak--are budding two to three weeks early, filling the air with their irritating pollen. Add torrential rains, which have produced bumper crops of wildflowers and grasses in the Southeast, along the Gulf Coast and in Southern California, and you have the makings of what some experts predict will be the worst allergy season in 20 years.

Not only has the sneezing started early, but it's likely to last longer than usual. The two main brakes on high pollen counts are extreme cold and scorching heat, both of which seem to be remote possibilities this year. Even last week's cold snap did not kill enough tree buds in the East to have much effect, although snowstorms may have done the trick in the Midwest. Nor is Texas expected to experience its usual blast-furnace summer, which in most years can be counted on to burn away enough pollen-producing plants to give the state a break in July and August.

The misery in California could extend all the way to fall. While the rest of the U.S., east of the Rockies, is sneezing on ragweed from mid-August to the first frost, Southern Californians are expected to suffer from a surfeit of sagebrush and Russian thistle. This year, says Berger, "it's only going to get worse. These are the kinds of plants that thrive in disturbed soil, as in mudslides, and we've certainly had a lot of those lately."

Because allergy medications generally work best if taken before they are needed, doctors from Montauk, N.Y., to Mendocino, Calif., are advising patients to watch the pollen count and, where appropriate, get a head start on treatment. That goes double for folks who suffer from asthma, which can be aggravated by an allergic reaction.

Relief will come, eventually. If this really is, as they say, the worst El Nino in 100 years, chances are that when the next one arrives, the pollen--and the sneezing--won't be nearly as bad.

--By Christine Gorman