Misery index.

Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

Eugene may believe that it's cornered the market on hay fever misery, but first-ever tests now show that Coburg residents breathe in six times the amount of grass pollen as urban dwellers in the big city to the south.

The difference emerged as sharp as a slap in the face on Memorial Day, when sunshine brought the first of the season's major grass-pollen clouds.

Eugene's count bounded up by 153 grains of grass pollen per cubic meter that day, according to the Allergy & Asthma Research Group in Eugene. But Coburg's rate flashed to the height of 1,000 grains per cubic meter.

And this is only the start of the season. In the Willamette Valley, grasses put out pollen through the month of June, spreading stuffiness, sneezing and sometimes asthma, until the season ends around the Fourth of July.

"We're just at the start of this, and each pollen season has its own unique signature," said Dr. Kraig Jacobson, who produces the local pollen counts. "We'll see how this one unfolds."

Hay fever is a fact of life in the southern Willamette Valley, where about 200 farmers devote about half the arable land to producing grass seed that's shipped around the world.

Domestically, 90 percent of lawns and pastures are seeded with Willamette Valley seeds.

The grasses start up in the spring, and by the last week in May the male plants begin to snap their pollen into the winds. The fescue ripens first, then the perennial rye and then the annual rye grass.

"One will peak, followed by another, followed by another," said Jean Jensen, a registered nurse and certified pollen counter who conducts the local counts.

The peak days come in June, with the "very high" counts of over 200 grains per cubic meter. Last year, Eugene saw three such days; six the year before and 13 the year before that. But Coburg far surpassed Eugene's numbers this year, which is the first year pollen testers have sampled the air there.

For pollen watchers, the questions are: Where will the counts land in the coming weeks? How high will Coburg go? Will Eugene catch up after a dry spell as the pollen flies farther south?

"We're interested in seeing: Is that disparity going to continue when we have five days of dry weather?" Jacobson said.

Either way, there's sure to be enough discomfort to go around. Between 17 percent and 20 percent of the population is genetically at risk for developing allergies, said Dr. Anthony Montanaro, head of the Allergy Division at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

Those who live in Hawaii or New Mexico or even Eastern Oregon may not know about their own allergic propensity, but when they spend a June in the Willamette Valley they're suddenly stricken - unable to do anything but rest and put a cold wash cloth on their eyes.

Allergies even might be dulling Oregon's brain trust.

College students from around the country suddenly find themselves unable to pay attention or to get a good night's sleep, Montanaro said.

"Those poor kids. It usually happens at the time of finals. Their eyes are swelling shut. They can't think straight. It happens in Eugene and Corvallis," he said.

Studies have shown that children and adults perform less well on standardized tests when suffering seasonal allergies. "It's almost a 20 percent impairment," Montanaro said.

And for those with allergy-triggered asthma, these pollen-dusted weeks can be dangerous.

"There's more emergency room visits. There's more hospitalizations for asthma. It can be a very serious condition," the Portland medical professor said.

And there's a subtlety that Eugene researchers are just beginning to uncover. They wondered why their patients with allergy-related asthma were suffering episodes in the spring, even when the rains were keeping pollen counts low.

Jacobson and his colleagues are testing a theory of fragments that says if a light rain comes just as rye grass is releasing its pollen, the water can shatter the pollen grains, which are 25 to 50 microns in diameter, into 1-micron shards. These are too small to show up on pollen counts, but they lodge in asthma sufferers' lungs and trigger attacks, Jacobson said.

Jacobson's group has teamed up with the California Institute of Technology to capture and measure the fragments. The group has enrolled 50 local asthma patients in a study to try to corollate their symptoms with the level of pollen fragments in the air. It's part of a multiyear study to better understand asthma triggers.

In the meantime, there's a glimmer of good news for Coburg residents. The misery has its limits as the pollen counts reach the stratosphere.

"There gets to be a point at the peak where doubling (pollen counts) probably doesn't make that much difference," Montanaro said.

795: Grass pollens per cubic meter in Eugene's air on June 4, 2003, the highest level in the past three years. A count of 200 or more is considered very high.

0: Grass pollens per cubic meter in Eugene's and Coburg's air on Sunday.

299: Grass pollens per cubic meter in Eugene's air on Wednesday, just three days later.

1,055: Grass pollens per cubic meter in Coburg's air on Wednesday. The count on Tuesday was 1,030.

CAPTION(S):

Pollen enters eyes, nose and lungs, sensitizing the immune system.