Do you find yourself constantly reaching for a tissue during the holiday season?  your coughing and sneezing may not just be symptoms of a winter cold – they could be a sign of what I like to call ‘Christmas Tree Syndrome.’

Believe it or not, there are documented cases of people who suffer allergic reactions to their Christmas trees.  certain molds that are prevalent in conifer trees can irritate people who suffer from those allergies.

These molds, as well as the spores and other fungi present, can increase the risk of wheezing, persistent cough and allergic sensitization.

And of course, your symptoms will only be exacerbated when the tree is inside a confined space like your home.

RELATED: Boy, 3, Allergic to Things That Are Christmas

Now before you all start yelling at me for ruining Christmas, I want to clarify that I’m not telling people not to buy a Christmas tree this year.

Rest assured, there are ways to reduce the effects of Christmas tree-related allergies.  many places where you can buy trees will offer to spray the tree down with water.  You can also hose down the tree yourself and wait for it dry out before bringing it inside.

Furthermore, don’t let the tree stand for too long in your house.  I recommend that people stick to the 12 days of Christmas, then throw it out.  this will limit your exposure – and your health issues.

Finally: You can always buy an artificial tree.  some are even scented to smell real, and you don’t have to worry about them dying before Christmas.  But if you’re planning to keep it in the attic, keep in mind that next year it’ll probably be coated in dust, which can certainly trigger an allergic reaction as well.

However you plan to decorate your house this year, I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season.

Playing music in the band is good for kids, but maybe not so much if that clarinet is a cesspool of bacteria and fungi.

That’s the provocative suggestion from the Oklahoma State University for Health Sciences, where researchers found germs galore growing on brass and wind instruments that were used in high school band programs.

The researchers in Oklahoma City Tulsa swabbed 13 brass and wind instruments, then rubbed the swabs on petri dishes and waited to see what would grow. they found 295 different bacteria as well as yeasts and molds. the parts that musicians put in their mouths were more contaminated than the rest of the instruments, and the two clarinets showed more contamination than the other instruments. the results were published in the latest issue of General Dentistry.

OK, that’s gross. but does having bacteria in your bassoon really pose a health risk?

Yes, says Thomas Glass, a dentist and professor at Oklahoma State who was lead author of the study. In the past he has tested for pathogens on toothbrushes, dentures, and athletic mouthguards. so he wasn’t too surprised to find gunk growing on band instruments. “The bacteria can produce local infections in the mouth, in the gastrointestinal tract, and in the respiratory tract,” Glass tells Shots. Molds can cause allergic reactions, and skin infections are a risk, too, he says.

Glass’s study didn’t look to see if the high schoolers who played these grubby instruments had health problems. And there’s precious little evidence of rampant infections associated with practicing “Stars and Stripes forever.”

But a few pulmonologists have reported patients coming in with lung problems. a letter from 1988 in the journal Chest told the tale of a 67-year-old saxophone player with a cough and shortness of breath. He was diagnosed with hypersensitivity pulmonitis from candida, and it turned out the saxophone mouthpiece was contaminated with that fungus. the symptoms disappeared after the musician started washing the instrument’s mouthpiece with soap and water.

More recently, a 48-year-old French saxophonist with inflamed lungs from a moldy saxophone also got a write-up in Chest. In the same issue last September, a pulmonologist at the University of Connecticut Health Center reported on a 35-year-old professional trombone player who had been suffering from a cough and shortness of breath for 15 years. Those symptoms cleared up when the musician started cleaning his instrument with rubbing alcohol.

Now, we have to point out that the General Dentistry study was sponsored by Dr. Lorenzo Lepore founder of Encore Etc., inc. It turns out that Lepore is a dentist, and Encore Etc., Inc. is a company he founded to sterilize musical instruments.

When Shots asked Glass if he saw a conflict of interest in that funding, particularly when he recommends sterilizing instruments with ethylene oxide, the method used by Encore Etc., Glass said:

We are independent of any conflict of interest. All we have to do in the article is say how we’re funded. That has no impact on us in terms of our findings.

Ethylene oxide is used to sterilize medical instruments, and it does a very good job. It’s also pretty toxic to humans. so we don’t think that you’re going to be cleaning your mellophone at home with this stuff.

Glass does say that instrument cleaning products available at music stores are probably enough to keep the microbes at bay. (Thanks to the magic of the Internet, Shots just learned how to give a trombone a nice bath. All you need is soap, a bathtub and some fluffy towels.)

Shots can’t help but ask if the good doctor isn’t being a wee bit alarmist. “Alarmist? we worry about that, we always worry about being alarmist,” he tells us. “It’s not going to hurt anybody to break down their instrument once a week and clean it.” That, he says, is preventive health.

“Playing a musical instrument has a certain level of hazard,” Glass says. “You can minimize the hazard by being fastidious.”

Allergy is one of the major causes of skin diseases on dogs and there are different types of dog allergies that they can get such as inhalant, flea, food and skin allergies. another thing that causes allergic reactions is the dog’s hair because, just like with people, it stings the skin and makes it very itchy, especially if the hair is dirty. one of the most common types of dog allergies is atopic dermatitis or inhalant allergy that is like hay fever for humans. for dogs though, the result is foot-chewing, wherein he or she scratches the paw because it is itchy. these allergies include dust mites, pollens, molds, wool and insects that can be found anywhere and your dogs are prone to these allergies if your house is not cleaned often.

Another one of the common types of dog allergies is flea allergies, where it is the flea’s saliva, and not the flea itself, that causes the allergy. one of its symptoms is scratching, so if your dog is always scratching and, at the same time, his or her hair is falling, then he may have fleas in his body. Always check your dog’s body for fleas and if there are too many of it and it’s sucking the blood out of your dog, seek help to the veterinarian.

Food allergy is another one of the common dog allergies, where it is caused by some ingredients in the food that are not suitable for their body. It is found on every breed of dog at any age and it can be any ingredient. The problem with food allergies though is that you won’t be able to determine the cause of the allergy because of the many kinds of food that your dog eats. Somehow, you have to do trial and error in determining the cause. one way to do it is to slowly eliminate certain ingredients that you think your dog has allergy with every week until you determine the certain ingredient. You can also add some certain ingredients that might help in lessening the allergy. then, there is the skin allergy where your dog has allergies with dust, molds, and pollens. Just like with humans, dog have this kind of allergy where itching and scratching are involved. if they also have swelling skin and patches of lost hair, then you can bring your dog to the veterinarian to see what kind of skin allergy he or she has. The problem with skin allergy is some of its causes may be from food, inhalants, or fleas that also have same symptoms. if you don’t look after the excessive scratching, it may lead to skin infections that can destroy the skin and coat of your dog.

Your dog’s skin and coat is very precious because these are what people will see and admire and as a pet owner, you must take care of it and make it free from dog allergies. if you feel that his or her excessive scratching is too much than the usual, then bring your dog to your trusted veterinarian so that he or she can examine them and determine the cause.