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Old 06-08-2005, 08:00 AM
paghat
 
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In article , "presley"
wrote:

As Ann and Janet said, there are real diseases that rose pricks can cause.
Another is cellulitis - the rose itself is not the culprit, but if the
puncture offers a direct route from the top layer of skin for superficial
(skin surface) colonies of staph bacteria to get to the layers underneath
the epidermis, a very nasty infection can result.


Any deep garden puncture can cause tetanus, & tetanus can cause death.
Gardens do kill a few people each year (nowadays about 25 deaths per year
just in the USA, but anyone my age remembers a time when hundreds died
each year & gardeners did know to worry about it).

31 to 39 percent of yearly tetanus cases are the result of garden
injuries; tetanus bacteria is ALWAYS in the soil & all it takes is to have
dirty hands from weeding then have a nice long rose thorn to drive some
dirt into the flesh. The elderly are especially susceptible. For those of
us who garden a lot & take our little wounds for granted, we are
considerable risk, unless we have tetanus boosters every ten years. Fewer
than half of North American gardeners are up to date on their tetanus
boosters. See:
http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/carroll/2004/tetanus.htm

-paghat the ratgirl
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