| LEXINGTON, KY (April 1, 1999) -- Sniffling,
sneezing, and itchy and watery eyes are symptoms many Kentuckians are all too familiar
with because of the prevalence of those pesky airborne pollen grains and mold spores. In
the Lexington area, if people wake up groggy with sinus headaches, they can look in the
local newspaper and see what may be causing the problem.
But, what they may not know is several University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center
employees are working early each morning collecting the counts so they can be educated
about their environment.
At 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, Bob Morgan, senior clinical laboratory technologist
in the Microbiology Department in the Clinical Laboratory at UK Hospital, travels to the
top of the Hospital parking structure to collect a glass slide from an air sampling
machine.
He then goes back to the sixth-floor laboratory, where he places the glass slide under
a microscope and manually counts pollen grains and mold spores. One to three hours later,
Morgan reports his findings to UK Chandler Medical Center Public Relations, which then
contacts the news media, local physicians and the public with the results.
The Medical Center is the leader providing this public service of biospheric facts such
as pollens and mold spores.
The Medical Center started its program long before other health care facilities in
other cities, Kang said. Today, people can call the National Allergy Bureau at
1-800-9-POLLEN to get figures of pollen and mold spores in most cities.
When Bann Kang, M.D., professor of medicine (allergy and immunology) in the UK College
of Medicine, came to UK 13 years ago as an allergist and immunologist, she went to work to
get funding for the pollen and mold count project.
After one year, her department, Internal Medicine, and Microbiology teamed up to fund
and staff the project.
"Monitoring and reporting the presence and levels of fungal spores and plant
pollen are services to the population of allergy sufferers and to the allergists who treat
them," said Norman Goodman, Ph.D., professor and director of the Clinical
Mycology/Mycobacteriology Laboratory in the UK College of Medicine.
"When a high concentration of spores or pollen occurs, those allergic to them must
take preventive measures such as staying indoors, or taking shots to render them
non-allergic," Goodman said.
Allergies are a serious problem, particularly in Kentucky.
"Allergies may not be a killer, but they do lower your quality of life by the way
they make you feel," Kang said. "No one wants to be sneezing or blowing his
nose. Symptoms of allergies are annoying."
Last year, only New Orleans had more mold spores than Lexington Kang said many of her
patients who have moved to the Lexington area from out of state or another country have
said they never had allergy problems until they moved to Kentucky.
By providing a daily pollen and mold count, the Medical Center is providing scientific
information that can help people become aware of their environment and what may be
affecting how they feel, Kang said.
"Although counting pollen grains and mold spores may not be a money maker, it is a
community service that allows patients to be aware of their environment and what may be
affecting how they feel," Kang said. "Sometimes you have to go the extra mile
for the sake of the community."
By Tammy Gay |
