The branches of an oak tree are stained with a green tint from pollen at park in Richardson, Texas, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo / Tony Gutierrez)

Allergy season is here — and it’s earlier and stronger than expected. The level of misery people will face depends on where they live and what they’re allergic to, but there are things you can do to feel better.

FILE - This Feb. 20, 2015, photo shows an arrangement of peanuts in New York. (Patrick Sison / AP Photo, File)

An estimated 17 million people in the U.S. have the type of food allergies that can cause rapid, serious symptoms, including severe, whole-body reactions that are potentially deadly.

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Budding plants and blooming trees signal the return of spring, triggering congestion, coughing and sneezing for the millions of seasonal allergy sufferers. With COVID-19 still circulating, how can you tell if your stuffy nose is just a case of hay fever and not something more? Here’s what you need to know.

Floodwaters surround a bur oak tree southwest of Columbia, Mo., on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (Kate Seaman / Missourian via AP, File)

Climate scientists at the University of Michigan looked at 15 different plant pollens in the United States and used computer simulations to calculate how much worse allergy season will likely get by the year 2100. It’s enough to make allergy sufferers even more red-eyed.

Periodical cicadas are identifiable by their red eyes. (Dan Keck / Pixabay)

Spicy popcorn cicadas, anyone? Not so fast, the Food and Drug Administration warns, if you have a shellfish allergy. The insects are related to shrimp and lobster. 

(WTTW News)

Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine is dropping, but there is still a large population that’s hesitant to get the shot. Some of that hesitancy is steeped in politics or misinformation, but others fear an allergic reaction. We meet one Chicagoan who says she has good reason to hold out.

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As those of us who are accustomed to sniffling, coughing and sneezing our way through spring and summer already know, it’s allergy season. But during a pandemic, those coughs could signal something more than a high pollen count.

In this March 26, 2020, photo, a person takes in the afternoon sun amongst the cherry blossoms along Kelly Drive in Philadelphia. (AP Photo / Matt Rourke)

For millions of seasonal allergy sufferers, the annual onset of watery eyes and scratchy throats is bumping up against the global spread of a new virus that produces its own constellation of respiratory symptoms. 

What our age may or may not say about our health, why some people may be “hardwired” to experience chronic pain, and a possible explanation for the ice geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Rabiah Mayas joins “Chicago Tonight” to examine these stories and more.