4
THE BATTALION
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1981
Page 3
Ragweed major cause of allergy
Watery eye season begins
StaiT photo by Becky Swanson
Ragweed, which grows along College Station creeks, is the main cause of hay fever.
By ERICA KRENNERICH
Battalion Reporter
Watery eyes and red noses may
not be signs of the common head
cold — they may be signs of an
allergy.
About 10 to 15 percent ofTekas
A&M University students may
suffer from allergy problems, said
Dr. Claude B. Goswiek Jr., stu
dent health center director.
Goswiek said it’s hard to esti
mate how many students have
allergies since a statistical analysis
of the center’s records is not pos
sible.
“We only see the sick ones,” he
said. “We don’t see the well ones.
Also, we tend to see those with
allergy problems over and over
again, whether it’s for medication,
complications of their allergies or
for injections.”
Allergies are generally abnor
mal bodily reactions to otherwise
harmless substances called
allergens, which start allergic
reactions. Sometimes even emo
tions can trigger allergies, Gos-
wick said.
“By far, though, the majority of
people who have allergies have
them to pollens,” Goswiek said.
“It’s weeds and grasses that are
pollinating now; whereas in the
spring, it’s mainly trees and
flowers.”
Edward McWilliams, Texas
A&M floriculture professor, said
despite the abundance of agricul
tural grasses in the College Station
area, the main causes of hay fever
are the short and giant ragweed
species.
“Grasses are pretty minor offen
ders compared to ragweed,” he
said.
McWilliams said giant rag
weed, which has yellowish flower
heads and three-lobed leaves,
grows about seven to eight feet
but can reach 14 feet in nitrogen-
rich soil.
“Giant ragweed is particularly
abundant along the creeks in Col
lege Station,” he said. Hay fever
sufferers may fare better this year,
McWilliams added, since many
ditches and creeks were cleaned
out after floods earlier in the year.
“In College Station, giant rag
weed started flowering about two
weeks ago and is peaking now,” he
said.
McWilliams, who has collected
ragweed seeds from over 20 states
and 50 Texas counties, said rag
weed should continue to flower for
several more weeks. He said he
has seen it as late as December
depending on the weather.
“Once we’ve had a severe
freeze, though, that’s the end of
it,” he added.
Goswiek said a person can de
velop allergies to things like rag
weed, but allergies have to do, to a
certain extent, with an indi
vidual’s allergic constitution —
the makeup of an individual.
“Generally speaking, with the
inheritance-part of it, you prob
ably don’t inherit the actual aller
gy,” he said. “In other words, if
your mother is allergic to ragweed
pollen, you may be allergic to
eggs. You inherit the constitution
to develop an allergy, and then it’s
an individual thing as to what that
allergy might be.”
It is often hard to distinguish
between a cold and an allergy be
cause the symptoms can overlap,
Goswiek said. “With hay fever-
type allergies, which are most apt
to be confused with a cold, the
eyes are usually itchy and watery
— as opposed to a cold, where the
eyes are often bloodshot and irri
tated.”
A runny nose from allergies
tends to have a thin, watery secre
tion rather than the thicker mucus
typical of colds, he said. Both can
lead to secondary infections.
Stinging insects — wasps, ants,
bees — cause allergic reactions in
some students, Goswiek said.
“Occasionally, we get very se
rious reactions to these sort of
things,” he said. “The serious ones
are called anaphylactic reactions,
ones where you get respiratory
distress and swelling of the larynx
and throat.”
These reactions require im
mediate and vigorous treatment.
A person could die from these
reactions if not attended to quick
ly, he said.
Other allergy promoters are
poison ivy, poison oak and certain
foods. Occasionally, he said, a stu
dent will claim to have food aller
gies to try to get out of a food
services meal plan. Goswiek said
he has seen very few true food
allergies in his more than eight
years at the student health center.
Allergic reactions to medica
tions are sometimes seen in stu
dents, he said. “A lot of students,
though, think they’re allergic to
penicillin in particular, and other
medicines in general, and they
aren’t.”
Often students get side effects
confused with allergic reactions,
he said.
1
1
i
if
t
the STUDENT m Y' ASSOCIATION presents
Thursday, October 8. 5:30 pm
in HENSEL PARK
$ 3.50 for members, $ 4.00 for non-members
tickets are available In room 216 MSC
There's Always Somthing For You In The 'V
Professors use
microcomp u ters
in workshops
By KIM CONNER
Battalion Reporter
[Microcomputers can do more
■ play Space Invaders, several
■as A&M University professors
nd out Friday in two seminars
■ted by Radio Shack on the
fexas A&M campus.
Microcomputers are small,
able computers used for day-
lay tasks.
■ / ■Tom Cahill, a computer mar-
r, JMng representative, said cus-
ers want a machine they can
Ktheir hands on and play with —
Rjust look at in a catalogue.
ffi)onald Clark, associate dean of
pcation, helped Cahill set up
seminars.
jThe seminars allowed the pro
pers to see what a microcompu-
■can do and how they can use it
^ ( j vf htheir work, Cahill said. Profes-
a * |rs were able not only to hear
haiKtlout the microcomputers, but
e warft to work with them,
neat .Gutter Education Marketing Di-
Ittor Jim Savoie showed them
| |as |10\v to use the computers, the
l^flftfessors settled down to one of
Pe computer terminals and
Wished on their own.
lat S t#e professors saw a display
■awing graphs, varying letter
ofvf® es an( ^ geometric figures. Then
l word processing display showed
, |em how to correct business let-
■ ()0t tfirs by easily deleting words and
ne 11 Spelling mistakes.
| Another program showed pro-
Isors how to make up their own
'P'* fcon plans, complete with quiz-
>ol! Zes, student progress checks and
havfCbngratuIatory messages.
Faculty members from the En
glish, math, data processing, lib
rary sciences and education de
partments attended the seminars.
At the end of the three-hour
seminars, the professors learned
to use the microcomputers for re
creation.
They played the game “Ore
gon,” where a person given $700
buys food, oxen, medical supplies,
clothes and ammunition. He then
heads out from Missouri and tries
to reach the Oregon Territory in a
covered wagon, attacked by num
erous wild animals and delayed by
snow and river floods, like any
pioneer. Only one made it — Dr.
Norm Naugle, associate professor
of mathematics.
n rrrrrri 1111 it i t i i i i hitti
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MSC OPAS proudly presents
Victor Borge
October 18/8 p.m.
Rudder Auditorium/TAMU
Tickets available at MSC Box Office or
Telephone MasterCard / VISA orders & pick up at the door
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