Climate change is prolonging allergy season, B.C. doctors say

Santana Dreaver · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 23, 2025 6:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Itchy eyes, runny nose, congestion, and sneezing are each communal symptoms of seasonal allergies. 

Dr. Angeliki Barlas, an allergist based successful Port Moody, B.C., says that clime alteration is simply a contributing origin to worsening symptoms and longer allergy seasons. 

"People volition often archer maine I consciousness similar I'm suffering astir year-round due to the fact that pollen play is much prolonged and overmuch much intense," 

"We're uncovering that with clime change, the warming of the situation has been causing pollen to go much inflammatory and affecting the immune strategy overmuch more," Barlas told CBC's Daybreak North.

Dr. Davidicus Wong, a household doc successful Burnaby, shared a akin connection astir clime alteration worsening allergy symptoms successful an interrogation with CBC's Baneet Braich. 

He says that with a warmer climate, pollinators are being tricked into pollinating early. 

WATCH: How to negociate seasonal allergies this spring:

Barlas, who is president of the B.C. Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, an enactment made up of physicians who specialize successful allergies, says that a warmer clime releases much pollen into the air, affecting those with respiratory issues much seriously, and for longer periods of time. 

"People mightiness find that their asthma becomes worse during these seasons arsenic well, which tin beryllium detrimental to our health-care strategy successful general."

Air pollutants, specified arsenic wildfire smoke, adhd different furniture onto worsening allergy symptoms for those affected. Barlas says that microscopic pollen interacts with fume erstwhile determination is simply a fire, causing the aerial to go inflammatory and harder connected the immune system. 

"Patients with asthma thin to find that their symptoms volition flare up with wildfire fume exposure, and arsenic a effect of that, requiring much medications, requiring presumption to their doc oregon adjacent to the exigency department."

Barlas says that biology power is an important portion of preventing allergy symptoms during precocious pollen season. 

Close the windows successful your location and conveyance to forestall pollen buildup, and marque definite to ablution and lavation your apparel erstwhile you get location if you hap to spell connected a hike, helium says, since tons of pollen volition physique up portion outside. 

If you are going to instrumentality medicine to dainty allergy symptoms, Barlas recommends staying distant from Benadryl. 

"There's been tons of probe precocious that Benadryl tin person semipermanent antagonistic effects, including representation nonaccomplishment and dementia."

Instead, her squad recommends utilizing non-drowsy antihistamines specified arsenic Claritin oregon Allegra. 

Barlas says that allergy patients request to beryllium referred by their superior provider, specified arsenic a caregiver practitioner oregon household physician, to person immunotherapy, a desensitization attraction for allergies. 

Although determination are nary allergists successful bluish B.C., allergists on the Lower Mainland instrumentality online appointments for bluish patients utilizing telehealth, says Barlas.