Duke University
Medical Center
Intercom
VOL. 25, NO. 30
JULY 28, 1978
DURHAM, N.C.
J-u-l-y spells relief for allergy victims
By David Williamson
When T.S. Eliot called April "the
crudest month" in his long poem "The
Wasteland," it's unlikely that he had
allergy sufferers on his mind.
Still, those who are afflicted with stuffy
noses, watery eyes and sneezing every
spring might be inclined to agree. April is
rough on millions of Americans, and this
year was worse than most, according to a
Duke allergy specialist.
Dr. Dennis Ownby, assistant professor
of p>ediatrics, said that because of unusual
weather conditions, trees in North
Carolina and neighboring states tended
to bloom all at once in 1978 rather than
throughout the spring as commonly
happens.
"We've seen a number of patients who
had more trouble this year than in the
past and also a number of people who
have never had allergy problems," he said.
"There was enough pollen around to act
as irritants and cause symptoms even
without allergy."
Before ragwood season
While a few grasses are still blooming,
relief from pollen has arrived, Ownby
said. July is the only warm month when
the majority of allergy victims can
breathe freely.
"Around the middle of August ragweed
and other plants start to pollinate," he
said. "By the time we get the first killing
frost, jjeople have started turning on
their heating systems and blowing
around house dust that has accumulated
all summer. Periods of prolonged wet
weather in late fall and winter cause
molds to grow that are another source of
allergy for some people."
Only colds more frequent
After the common cold, allergies are
probably the second most frequent form
-
of illness that human beings experience,
the physician said. In this country alone,
surveys indicate that some 45 million
persons are affected.
Ownby said allergies begin in a
susceptible individual when certain white
blood cells (lymphocytes) first recognize
foreign particles like house dust and then
react by producing a protein
immunoglobin known as IgE.
If the same foreign substance should
enter the body again later, IgE molecules
activate another kind of white cell which
releases histamine and related chemicals.
LUNAR LANDSCAPE/ — Magnified 10,000 times by scanning electron microscopy, a single
ragweed pollen looks more like a frozen moon than one of this country's most irritating allergens.
By the middle of August, countless billions of the tiny sex cells will be borne through the air by
wind to fertilize ragweed. Allegy sufferers will intercept many of them.
he explained. It is the body's own
chemicals that cause the familiar
symptoms.
Function uncertain
The physician, whose research is
directed toward understanding how the
immune systems of allergic and non-
allergic individuals differ, said scientists
aren't sure what biological function IgE
was meant to serve.
"It's hard to imagine that we develop
something solely to make us ill," he said.
"It appears that IgE is important in
defending animals against parasites, and
presumably, man has retained that ability
because we see the highest levels of IgE in
humans when they are infected with
intestinal worms."
"We've seen a number of
patients who had more trouble
this year than in the past and also a
number of people who have never
had allergy problems. There was
enough pollen around to act as
irritants and cause symptoms even
without allergy."
Ownby said people can be allergic to
just about anything, but the biggest
classes of allergens are foods, pollens,
molds and inhalants such as animal
danders and various dusts. A person's
ability to detect something such as animal
danders and various dusts. A person's
ability to detect something he is allergic to
can be phenomenal, the physician said, in
the parts-per-billion range.
Detailed pollen counts printed in
newspapers or broadcast on radio can be
useful to clinical allergists who are trying
to pinpoint the source of patients'
(Continued on page 3)
Duke specialist says
Day of non-readers in kindergarten about to end
By Bob Wilson
Duke News Service
The day of the non-reader in
kindergarten is about to pass, a university
reading specialist says.
"Almost without exception, these
children want to learn to read and write,"
says Dr. Anne H. Adams, a professor of
education at Duke. "They approach the
task as a form of play."
Adams says there's nothing magical
concerning age five with regard to
reading and writing, but "unfortunately,
some people apparently feel a child should
be six years old before he or she can
receive reading and writing instruction."
If they can and want to
Adams, who directs the university's
Reading Center, says kindergarten
"should provide a program that will
afford opportunities for children to learn
to read and write if they can and if they
wish to do so."
With that position in mind, she and Dr.
Judith Connors, director of reading for
the Greensboro public schools, wrote
"Success in Kindergarten Reading and
Writing," just published by Goodyear
Publishing Co. in Santa Monica, Cahf.
The kindergarten program is a spin-off
of Adams' "Success in Beginning Reading
and Writing," introduced in 17 Durham
first-grade classrooms in the fall of 1976
and now coming into use in several other
parts of the country
Incorporated
with developmental process
In an interview, she said the
kindergarten program "endorses the
concept of incorporating instruction with
the developmental process of each child,
instead of predetermining a
developmental sequence and then trying
to make each child fit into it."
Like the elementary versions of the
Success program, the kindergarten
program doesn't use a basal reader. There
is no "See Dick and Jane run" instruction.
Instead, Adams said, the program
incorporates the child's vocabulary,
printed words from familiar items in the
child's environment and a flexible
instruction schedule that allows teachers
to develop lessons that may differ from
day to day.
"Students can improve their reading,
writing, speaking and listening abilities
almost as naturally as they once learned
to speak and listen," the educator said.
(Continued on page 4)