Ragweed brings misery to area allergy sufferers

Symptoms include sneezing and itchy eyes, nose and throat.

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By Dave Larsen, Staff Writer Updated 10:25 PM Saturday, August 27, 2011

Ragweed pollen counts have skyrocketed in recent days, creating misery for area allergy sufferers, and experts say this season could be worse than usual because of this summer’s extreme hot weather.

“Ragweed likes the hot temperatures, so the recent heat wave that we had maybe has set us up for a particularly bad allergy season,” said Dr. Charles DeBrosse of the Allergy & Asthma Centre of Dayton.

The practice’s volume has doubled during the past week “in terms of new patients calling in with allergy symptoms,” DeBrosse said.

Ragweed season starts in mid-August in the Miami Valley and is the worst of the area’s allergy seasons, said Brian Huxtable, a Regional Air Pollution Control Agency specialist.

“More people are susceptible to ragweed allergies than any other,” he said.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America last year named Dayton the No. 1 fall allergy capital in the country.

Of Americans who are allergic to pollen-producing plants, 75 percent are allergic to ragweed, the foundation said. Symptoms can include sneezing, stuffy or runny nose, itchy eyes, nose and throat, and trouble sleeping.

Ragweed, also known as ambrosia, is abundant in the Miami Valley and the major cause of hay fever in the Dayton and Springfield area, according to RAPCA.

Shorter days and cooler nights stimulate pollination in the ragweed plant, Huxtable said. Each plant can produce up to 1 billion pollen grains, which can travel for miles by air.

Huxtable said area ragweed pollen counts to date are similar to previous years. Those numbers will continue to climb until Labor Day, and then taper off until the first frost kills the plants, he said.

“It depends on susceptibility, but I would say sometime between mid-September and October hopefully people will see some relief,” Huxtable said.

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