Poet T.S. Eliot once wrote that "April is the cruelest month.
" For Caitlyn Alderman and others in the Charleston area, September might be the worst. "It's pretty rough," said Alderman, 21, of West Ashley, an asthma patient. And for those like her, Charleston would be among the cruelest of places.
The Holy City was the ninth worst in the U.S. for asthma patients, according to a new ranking from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
Greenville was not far behind at 13th worst. Columbia came in at 30th. The foundation ranked 100 major American cities based on asthma prevalence, asthma death rate and emergency room visits due to asthma.
Fall allergies bring misery to many in the Lowcountry, with weeds plentiful from flooding Charleston's notoriety is not news to specialists who see asthma patients. The fall is "exceptionally hard" for those patients, and September is "a peak asthma month," said Dr. Kelli Williams, an allergist and immunologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, who is Alderman's doctor.
There is a potent brew of allergens in the air, particularly from weeds, and it makes its presence known suddenly, she said. "The season here is very fierce, and when it comes on, it comes on in full swing very quickly," Williams said. In addition to that, the area is prone to sudden and severe storms.
Those can exacerbate symptoms by not only stirring up the allergens, but by hurling them at patients in blasts of wind. The Lowcountry's humidity also fosters the .
