The Seasons for Hay Fever

By Raymond Entwistle

Trees, grasses and weeds have windborne pollen.
According to sensitivity, the "hay fever season" for a particular individual occurs when the plants that affect him or her pollinate.

Thus, in general, those sensitive to tree pollens (such as elm, maple, birch, poplar and others) suffer in the early spring.

Late spring and early summer is the time for the grasses , which affect nearly half of all hay fever sufferers. Weeds, such as ragweed, flourish and pollinate from mid-August to mid-fall.

Of people with hay fever, 75 per cent are sensitive to ragweed.

But an individual may react to one or more pollens in more than one of these groups, so that his own "season" may be from early spring to the first frost.

For that matter, a person sensitive to dust, to dog dander, or to some other airborne material from which he cannot easily escape may suffer all year round.

Mold and fungus spores (seeds), also airborne substances during the summer months, cause reactions in many people.

Frequently found around hay, straw and dead leaves, their growth is encouraged by humid weather and places with poor ventilation -- damp basements, for instance.