So You Touched Poison Ivy. Now What?
Poison ivy and its relatives, poison oak and poison sumac — at least one of which grows in almost every state — produce an oily compound called urushiol that 50 to 75 percent of American adults are allergic to. If you're among them, you can get a rash that's 'notoriously extremely itchy,' said Dr. Stacy Marshall, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
These rashes can take three weeks or more to resolve completely, she added, and they're no picnic. They affect between 10 million and 50 million people annually and lead to an estimated 43,000 emergency department visits annually.
If you're allergic to urushiol in one species, you'll likely react to the leaves, stems, roots and berries of all three — which, according to one study, are becoming more abundant and potent as carbon dioxide levels increase. But even if you have never had a reaction, don't assume you never will.
Dr. Marshall, for instance, encountered both poison oak and poison ivy for decades without issue until this year, at 35, when she got a rash after weeding her garden in short sleeves.
'Your body is constantly changing,' she said, and your reaction may change based on age, genetics and environmental factors, including how much urushiol you've been exposed to and how often.
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