COMING ACHOO! ALLERGIES IN REGION WILL PROBABLY WORSEN DUE TO INCREASE IN POLLEN.

Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW

Staff Writer

STUDIO CITY - Six-year-old Samuel Pacheco had hoped to run a 100-meter race when sniffles stopped him dead in his tracks.

The culprit: a nose full of pollen and a bad case of allergies.

"The pines are pollinating, big time," said his father, Oscar Pacheco, 51, of Granada Hills, during a Wednesday visit to an allergist. "The last couple of weeks, my son has had a runny nose, coughing. He's irritated a lot."

With Los Angeles in its driest weather season ever, allergists say a record lack of rain has heightened spring pollen -- and hay fever -- across the region.

That's because the dry spell has simply failed to wash away the storm of pollen that causes the sneezing, runny noses, red eyes and itching induced by allergies.

"We've been busy," Dr. Joseph Shapiro said as he treated Samuel at his Allergy and Asthma Institute of the Valley in Studio City.

"This area of the Valley and throughout Los Angeles, the tree pollen has been especially high. We anticipate that this summer, the grasses and the weeds will be bad."

Hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, affects up to one out of five residents who suffer through the irritating rite of spring.

In the San Fernando Valley, the first barrage of pollen begins in January from ash and walnut trees. With the onset of spring, the knockout blow comes from olive, oak, eucalyptus and other trees.

High concentrations of mostly sycamore, mulberry and pine were reported in Orange, the closest National Allergy Bureau pollen station.

An onslaught of grass pollen will likely aggravate noses through fall, joined by allergy-inducing weeds.

"The last couple of weeks I've had a spike of people with allergy symptoms. It seems to be full force," said Dr. Marc Riedl, an assistant professor of immunology and allergy at UCLA Medical Center.

"The ideal conditions for pollen are dry, windy conditions, and we've certainly had that."

Riedl said even the outdoor dry-weather molds that cause allergies are thriving. And patients from the Midwest, where ragweed thrives, complain allergies are worse in Southern California, possibly exacerbated by the poor air quality, he said.

And drought.

L.A. has seen just 2.47 inches of rain -- 18 percent of normal -- since July and is on course for the driest season on record. The last significant drizzle was Feb. 22, when a mere 0.38 of an inch fell downtown.

For months, a series of offshore Santa Anas has blown pollen into L.A. basins from the high desert, foothills and the Angeles National Forest.

Even weather forecasters are reaching for their Kleenex.

"It's a killer because there's no rain to wash the pollen out of the air," said Bill Patzert, climatologist for the Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory. " ... I am suffering. I've definitely got the itchy eyes and the big sneeze."

As the pollens let fly, prescription and over-the-counter nasal sprays and antihistamines such as Claritin also have flown off the shelves.

Allergies are the sixth-leading cause of chronic disease in the United States, affecting between 40 and 50 million residents, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

And about 14.1 million doctor visits a year are attributable to hay fever.

"We're getting people in, two to three patients a day," said Dr. Alireza Alibanaei, a pharmacist at Basso Pharmacy in Woodland Hills. "They're congested. They can't breathe right."

While long-term sufferers often opt for years of allergy shots, new treatments could be in the works. Amino immunotherapy, which requires only a half-dozen allergy shots, could be approved for use in the next five years, Riedl said.

In addition, studies show that sublingual immunotherapy, widely used in Europe, might also be affective, he said. Allergens, placed under the tongue, cause fewer allergic reactions.

Seasonal allergies, once taken lightly, have been blamed for poor sleep, poor concentration and a risk factor for asthma, especially in children.

"People miss work. They miss school. It does interfere with the ability to sleep, to concentrate. And it affects fatigue," Riedl said. "For some people it's a nuisance, for others it's a major medical condition that disrupts their lives."

At Shapiro's clinic, patients complained of itchy eyes, sneezing and postnasal drip. Samuel Pacheco, who has been wheezing and scratching after a rain of pine and eucalyptus pollen in his yard, had to cancel a track meet Saturday.

"The allergies are definitely kicking in," Shapiro, an affiliate of Northridge Hospital Medical Center, explained. "The pollens are making his condition worse."

Allergies also are complicating life for Cynthia Phillips, 37, of Burbank.

"If I don't take allergy medicine, I can't go to sleep," she said after a separate exam by Shapiro. "My whole life has been Kleenex.

"My dogs have (allergies), too."

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Dr. Joseph Shapiro, an allergy specialist, peers into the mouth of Samuel Pacheco, 6, of Granada Hills on Wednesday in Studio City. Samuel has been suffering from allergies.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

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