By Rachel Anne Goodman
Watsonville, CA – Here on the central coast, doctors are saying this is the worst allergy season on record. "They'll come in with symptoms of irritation of the eyes, itching of the eyes, rhinoreah, which is a runny nose, the throat itches, their ears are itching," says Jose Chibras, a doctor of internal medicine at the Salud Para La Gente clinic in Watsonville. Is this part of the 75 percent jump allergies seen nationwide since the 1980s, or just a fluke? For this month's local report in KAZU's Health Dialogues series, Rachel Anne Goodman looks at local air quality and its impact on allergies.