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Allergy symptoms tick up as new allergens emerge during season change

DAYTON — Allergy sufferers may be noticing more symptoms right now as summer begins to wind down and new allergens begin to pop up such as ragweed and mold.

“Ragweed is a weed that’s related to the daisy and it peaks in production to the pollen,” said Dr. Thomas Huth with Reid Health in Richmond, Ind.

Huth said our current weather pattern can be triggering to allergens.

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“It may be aggravated by the dry weather. It may dry out the ragweed plants and release the pollen in high amounts this time of the year,” Huth said.

Storm Center 7 Meteorologist Kirstie Zontini said mold has also been high for most of the summer.

“At times we’ve had a lot of rain, of course the moisture will encourage mold growth, but when we got into prolonged dry spells, that triggers mold spores into the air, so it’s a combination of really wet and dry spells that aggravates the mold issue,” Huth said.

And, it may continue to worsen throughout the fall season.

Huth said, “It’s growing on plants and as leaves dry out and die, that will also release a lot of mold into the air.”

He continued by saying that allergy sufferers should see some relief when we see our first cold spell, which is when temperatures drop below freezing for at least 24 hours.

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