Allergy season in bloom on LI

What is the inescapable sound of the season? A resounding chorus of achoos!

People are sneezing and eyes are watering. It's allergy season and it inevitably arrives this month along with March Madness and the tulips that begin poking their buds above ground.

"Allergies are certainly on the rise, and they've increased dramatically in the last two weeks," said Dr. David Rosenthal, an allergy and immunology specialist with North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Manhasset.

Even though sneezy and watery-eyed patients began reporting symptoms two weeks ago, he said, there was an appreciable uptick in an array of allergens -- visible and invisible -- all over Long Island within the past week and a half.

Rosenthal blames bouts of rain that have caused trees to produce a profusion of pollen. Weed and grass pollen, he said, tend to flare later in the season.

Dr. Harvey Miller, an Islip allergist and immunologist, also attested to an increasing number of patients reporting severe allergy symptoms. Some, he said, are just downright miserable.

But Dr. Mark Rosen, a pulmonologist who treats people with lung conditions, said he has not noticed a significant number of his patients reporting allergies. "It's still a little early," he said. "I think when the flowers start blooming, that's when people will have the worst time of it."

Sources such as The Weather Channel that monitor tree, flower, weed and grass pollen showed zero to very low activity throughout the region. But Monday's pollen count is only a snapshot in time because the reproductive cycles of oak, pine and elm already have begun.

Damp weather also has triggered myriad mold growth, but allergies to molds can occur at any time of year, Miller said.

"Allergies are seasonal and perennial," Miller said, noting that in addition to outdoor allergens, many of his patients report symptoms to common sources year-round: animal dander, dust and dust mites, he said.

Allergies are a major public-health concern in the United States. An estimated 50 million people have some kind of sensitivity to indoor and outdoor substances, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Allergies are the fifth leading chronic disease in the United States among all ages and the third most common chronic condition among children under 18.