On Thursday, September 10, 1998 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Joanna Holland wrote:
I've just been told of a friend who ended up in hospital
on intravenous antibiotics after her arm swelled to
gargantuan proportions due to being scratched by a pyracanthus
while pruning it. Are pyracanthas poisonous, or do they
carry particularly nasty diseases of some sort on their
thorns? Is this sort of accident common?
Please let me know, as mine needs cutting back badly, but I
don't fancy a hospital visit Thanks.
--
Joanna Holland
]

You may be interested in this article I found while researching firethorn as a passive barrier plant. It may be explanitive, and helpful.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s002380050254

It is a medical paper of 3 cases of people tangling with Pyracantha and the need to inform medical personnel that even small thorns may be still resident within the wound.

best of luck,
Jim C.