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Article: Sneezin' season: there's a good reason for your spring sneezing: hay fever.(DISEASE & DISORDERS)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- March 1, 2005
- Author:
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Drew Hires, 14, was 8 years old when he came down with what he thought was a cold. "But it went on and on," he said. Eventually, Drew's parents suspected, and his doctor confirmed, that the cold was no cold. It was hay fever, a chronic condition marked by nasal congestion, sneezing, watery and itchy eyes, headaches, and sleep disturbances. Drew's symptoms tend to be nasal congestion and headaches. "[Hay fever] makes me feel pretty rotten," he said.
Drew is not alone in feeling that way. An estimated 35 million Americans suffer, in varying degrees, from hay fever.
Pollen and Spores
Hay fever is an allergy, an immune response gone wrong. The ...