WEST PALM BEACH — Struggling with sinuses? Sneezing up a storm?
Blame Frances.
 
And keep an itchy red eye on Jeanne.
 
Given the amount of dust, pollen and spores kicked up by Frances, Charley and Ivan, you don't have to have allergies to experience their hallmark ills: sinus headaches, ear pain or the lung-clutching wheeze of asthma.
 
"It has been a very tough couple of weeks," said Dr. Steven J. Louie, a board-certified allergy and asthma specialist whose West Palm Beach office phones started ringing off the hook when his office reopened after Frances.
 
Of course, any storm capable of redistributing pollen and dust can play havoc with respiratory health. Hurricanes just do it on a grand scale.
 
Ask Carey O'Donnell, whose condominium, at 300 feet, is one of the tallest residences in West Palm Beach. A small window was accidentally left unlatched before Frances hit. The window opened outwards, but Frances found a way in. When the public relations executive returned, "It was like someone had taken sand and dirt and grime and put it in a pressure cleaner and sprayed it everywhere."
 
Louie, who lived — and worked — through Hurricane Andrew and a host of lesser windstorms, said flatly that Frances "has been the worst."
 
When the storm's heavy rainfall wasn't seeping into homes and laying the groundwork for mildew, it was drenching trees and foliage already ripped from the ground.
 
"All the tree debris sitting by the roadside means there is more outdoor mold from the decaying vegetation," said Dr. Mark R. Stein, a diplomat of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology with offices in Palm Beach County.
 
Then there are the mighty mites. Tiny as the tip of a sharpened pencil, mites set up housekeeping in mattresses, stuffed animals, blankets — anything with a smidgen of moisture and a swatch of fabric. A single gram of house dust contains between 100-500 mites, according to one estimate. A mattress can contain 3 million.
 
If humidity rises above 60 percent, the critters leap into a romantic free-for-all. Or, as Stein puts it, "When you have no air conditioning for a week, you have had a whole week of mite multiplication."
 
Florida offers exotic allergens, too: Mango tree sap and Florida Ivy are homegrown post-hurricane nuisances.
 
Stein suggests a partial remedy would be to get debris, including leaves, removed and leaking roofs sealed. But the most serious problems involve the loss of electricity.
 
For instance, nebulizers are commonly used in homes to treat asthma. The equipment mixes air with medicine that is inhaled by the user. The equipment runs on electricity or batteries. Batteries fade, though, and then there's power outages.
 
"A number of patients not able to use them ended up in emergency rooms," Louie said.
"There was definitely a spike" in breathing-related ailments treated at the Columbia Hospital emergency room, said Dr. Michael Loguidice, a physician at the facility. "There was no air conditioning, and a lot of them had no oxygen."
 
As if swimming ants, sky-high dust and heat-drenched humidity wasn't enough, stress — such as the stress of anticipating another hurricane — can also trigger respiratory problems. Said Louie, "It has just been overwhelming.
 
"And I'm not sure we're over it yet."
 
 

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