Allergies Nothing to Sneeze At

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Being aware offers little protection to those who fall prey to the kissing bug in Southwestern states. The dark brown insect, featuring a protruding proboscis and a splash of orange at the edge of its wings, strikes at night, quietly feasting on the blood of the slumbering victim. Most involuntary donors awaken the next morning itching from what seems to be a mosquito bite. But some immediately develop alarming and occasionally fatal allergic symptoms. Dr. Jacob Pinnas of the University of Arizona suggests that kissing- bug deaths may be underestimated. Some people who die in their sleep and have their death attributed to other causes, he says, may be victims of the not-so-amorous insect.

Other allergies abound, including one surprisingly associated with the aids epidemic: sensitivity to latex gloves, which are being worn in increasing numbers by health workers to guard against infection by the deadly virus. Latex, it seems, contains an allergen that can produce reactions as drastic as anaphylactic shock in allergy-prone people.

Despite energetic research into the nature and mechanics of the allergic immune response, and some improvement in treatment, no easy, surefire cure is in sight. Without question, says Washington University's Wedner, "the very best way of curing an allergy is to take away the allergen. No one is allergic to something that isn't there." In a few cases, that prescription is simple. Sufferers can get rid of the cat, for example, or avoid obviously allergenic foods and switch to nonlatex (but more expensive) gloves.

Avoiding pollen, especially ragweed pollen, is another matter. North America is host to 17 species of ragweed, a coarse, hairy plant with a slightly noxious odor and small yellow flowers. In most regions it blooms from August until October, each plant producing a billion pollen grains during an average season. These grains, carried by winds, can travel up to 400 miles -- even out to sea, where they can bedevil sufferers seeking relief aboard a cruise ship. Other places once considered havens because of less airborne pollen -- Tucson and Phoenix, for example -- are no longer ideal. Immigrants from other regions have brought their lawns, bushes and mulberry trees with them, making both the desert and pollen counts bloom.

Still, one sure way to cut down exposure to pollen is to take refuge in sealed, air-conditioned office buildings and houses, where filters cleanse most of the offending grains from incoming air. But even here, sufferers cannot win. Indoor allergens -- particularly spores from molds that grow on irregularly cleaned evaporative coolers and humidifiers -- can be circulated throughout the structure, bringing on the familiar allergic symptoms often attributed to "sick-building syndrome." In houses, keeping air-treatment units free of molds will not suffice; sealed-in, circulating cat dander and dust-mite dung often more than compensate for the absence of spores.