LEBANON, N.H. (WCAX) – Fall is a peak season for allergies, when pollen from ragweed can fill the air, affecting your nose, throat, and eyes. Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center recently installed new technology to more closely monitor that pollen to try to help keep those seasonal sniffles at bay.
“I get most affected at the beginning of spring and actually at the beginning of fall,” said Donna Crowley, a Massachusetts resident who often visits Vermont
The beginning of fall is a common time of year for people suffering from allergies. An abundance of ragweed and mold blowing through the air is to blame. “Just the classic symptoms like stuffiness and scratchy throat,” Crowley said.
“When you are inhaling allergens, they can cause inflammation in the nose and the lungs,” said Dr. Erin Reigh, an allergy and Immunology specialist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. She says inflammation deeper in the lungs can cause asthma. “We don’t actually know or have good data what pollens are out in our area.”
And that’s where a new pollen counter on the roof at DHMC comes into play. Once a week, Reigh collects the canisters and records the data under a microscope to get a better idea how much pollen is around at any given time. “We want to have a better understanding of what is affecting our patients so that we can tailor our therapies better. And then, also over time, there are people who study this for climate change,” Reigh said.
People like Crowley, who takes medicine for her allergies all year long, could ultimately benefit. “Health care will improve with places like Dartmouth-Hitchcock that are doing that type of research,” she said.
Dartmouth Health is partnering with the National Allergy Bureau on the project to help track pollen counts across the country. The next closest pollen counter is in Rochester, New York.
To subscribe to allergen reports from DHMC’s pollen counting station, visit pollen.aaaai.org.