(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- If your eyes aren't itchy, they may soon be. Spring -- and the allergy season -- are here.
This year's allergy season is shaping up fairly typically. Nothing big yet, says Dr. Rachna Shah, the head of the Loyola Allergy counts.
Did you ever wonder: Why do we have seasonal allergies -- an immune response with antibodies -- in the first place?
"At the beginning of time, these proteins were really designed to help us fight off parasitic infections,” Shah explains.
One explanation for why our bodies are still responding the way they are is the Hygiene Hypothesis.
"Our air in general, our water in general, is much cleaner than what it used to be. We do not get that same exposure to parasites and other things that we used to even 100 years ago."
And she says this portion of the immune system sort of backfires.
"And it starts responding to things like pollens or foods or things we should not have reactions to."
Check Twitter for the latest pollen count every 24 hours, @loyolaallergy.
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