Flowers are blooming, the temperature is rising and students on campus are sneezing.
It’s spring time, and that means pollen — the yellow, grainy substance covering campus.
The University takes pride in the Live Oak trees that border its walkways and courtyards, but they are the primary source of showers of pollen that cause allergies to flare this time of year.
Lowell Urbatsch, a biological science professor, said oak trees dump billions of microscopic pollen grains per tree.
The Lafayette office of Dr. Fruge Bernard, an ear, nose and throat doctor, performed a pollen count yesterday and found 3,217 tree grains of pollen per cubic meter of air.
The Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology classifies any count of more than 1,500 grains as “very high.”
Dr. Bernard’s number is nearly five times higher than last week’s count, which the Kidd Allergy Clinic in Baton Rouge reported March 30 to be 713 grains per a cubic meter of air.
Urbatsch said the trees appear to be almost done with the pollination period — meaning pollen releases will soon slow to a stop.
According to the Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, people will start to experience allergy symptoms when the pollen count reaches 20 to 100 grains per cubic meter of air.
Jan Mertens, a registered nurse with the allergy department of the Ear, Nose and Throat Medical Center of Baton Rouge, said common symptoms of an allergic reaction to pollen include watery eyes, a runny nose and sneezing.
She said reactions may resemble cold symptoms and can generally be treated with over-the-counter antihistamines and decongestants.
Mertens said untreated allergies can result in a sinus infection because of fluid build-up in the sinus cavities.
“There is an increase in March and April,” she said. “That’s the peak season of tree pollen.”
Mertens said the term “hay fever” is often used to describe seasonal allergies with these type of reactions.
According to statistics from the Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 35.9 million Americans have seasonal allergies.
Helen Williams, an interior design freshmen, said she has problems with allergies and the pollen on campus.
She said her car, which she parks next to Miller Hall, is always covered in pollen and creates health problems for her.
“It’s all over,” Williams said. “You can feel yourself inhaling it.”
Chandler Cherco, a public relations junior, said she had to wash her car because of the excessive amount pollen on it after she did not drive it for a week.
“The pollen was all over it and it was under my carport,” she said.
Emmett Conrad, a paint technician at Miles Auto Paint and Repair Facility, said the pollen, as well as tree sap, can stain a car if it is allowed to sit on the car too long.
He said the only way to remove the stain is to repaint the car.