Ah, it's springtime again, when young people's fancies turn to romance and to fun outdoors. Right? Wrong! Not for the more than one in every twenty people who suffer from "rose fever," or grass or tree pollen allergies. The suffering is no less intense for the countless others who are plagued by summer and autumn "hay fever" allergies. Correctly known as seasonal allergic rhinitis, these allergies are responsible for millions of days of absenteeism from work and school and millions of days of bed rest and restricted activity by otherwise healthy people every year.

The term hay fever, which is hundreds of years old, originated when certain individuals became very ill every year during the English hay-pitching season. The term is misleading, however. For one thing, the condition has more to do with the grasses that pollinate during hay-pitching season than to the hay itself. For another, there is no fever associated with the condition. To avoid these inaccuracies, physicians prefer the term allergic rhinitis, or allergy-induced nasal inflammation, for all seasonal allergies. Because the term covers more of the sufferer's symptoms, physicians sometimes use the tongue-twister allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, which simply means allergically-induced nasal and eye irritations.