It is wise to take some
precautions, at least washing your hands *thoroughly* after handling
any potting material, but IMHO not worth making yourself crazy over.
MG

Gotta agree. There is just so much that can happen.... Tangential to the
thorns issue, I was bitten on the right forefinger knuckle a few years ago
by a perfectly ordinary large garden spider. I have been bitten by them
before, in California, several times, and, because their fangs are really
very short (so it takes a pretty big spider to get through your skin at
all), it just causes a localized mild burning and itching sensation and some
faint redness, usually only bad enough to keep having to remind myself not
to scratch it against my bluejeans periodically. This was the first time I'd
been bitten by one here in Europe, and the effect was the same, so I went on
gardening in some long-standing soil in an outdoor tub supporting various
semi-local flowering foliage.About two hours later, the entire side of my
finger erupted in very badly itching and burning tiny blisters. I could
watch them grow. JUST before I decided I'd better seek some medical
attention, it stopped spreading, so I kept an eye on it and started
research. It didn't take long to find out it just had to be dishydrotic
eczema, and that this can develop suddenly after subcutaneous exposure to
various soil fungi, most often through being bitten by a garden spider,
which usually have these fungi all over their fangs. Any time I work in
local soil without gloves, even now four or five years later, it comes back.
Go figure.
--Katrina


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