Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control

Ragweed Allergies Year Round?
| published March 23, 2015 |

By Thursday Review staff

 

For many people in the northeast and the Midwest, snow can still be found in abundance on the ground, on roads and highways, and in some cases piled 40 feet high in urban areas where crews have scraped it away from roadways and city streets. But for much of the country, the start of spring means pollen, and for many people, that means the effects triggered by an annual surge in ragweed growth.

The pastel green image here is a Centers for Disease Control photograph—actually, a scanning electronic micrograph—depicting ragweed (scientific name: ambrosia trifida) up close and personal, enlarged thousands of times. The powerful effect of ragweed on humans, especially in North American areas, is often overlooked because the ragweed produces no noticeable flowers or pollen. But in fact, as this enlargement shows, ragweed contains not only tiny flowers but also massive amounts of microscopic pollen.

The effects of ragweed are often mistaken for other spring-summer-fall pollen-producers, like goldenrod and pine, both of which produce more noticeable levels of yellow and gold dust; or from the scores of regional flowers which produce the most noticeable color. Ragweed can in fact have far more serious medical effects than all those flowers and yellow-pollen producers combined.

Photograph courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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