On 5 Jun 2006 18:08:56 -0700, wrote:

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The reasons I am doubtful about the poison ivy diagnosis a
1. I was outside for 60 minutes with a shirt and long pants and
sneakers on a Sat. got a thing behind my ear, 1 under my armpit and 1
on my bicep on a Thursday. (plus I showered right when I was done
outside, and I rarely go into the garden)

If you were hot and sweaty this may not have been soon
enough for clean-up. I've heard less than 20 minutes for
bathing to be effective.

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opening them up and spreading the poison around to new places on your body.

Is that true? My mother told me that if you break a poison ivy bite,
the liquid/pus does not spread the poison ivy.

You don't spread it around by scratching the sores. This is
an old myth that refuses to die. Scratching can cause an
infection and possible scars though. It acts much like an
allergy and is in your bodies system. Antihistamines can
provide some relief. The most likely points of breakout are
sensitive skin which came in contact with the oil. However,
you can break out in other areas too, most commonly where
your skin is soft and thin.

I have had individual small spots similar to yours and large
areas on other occasions. My last tangle with PI was a mere
year ago. I had small spots scattered all over my upper
torso and arms. There were a few areas that looked more like
welts. I know exactly where I got into it. I was mowing
through a "nature trail" in our field and could see the
plants 6-10 inches tall. There wasn't a lot of them, I
washed up within an hour or so and I never got off the mower
while in their vicinity. It was a hot day, I was sweaty and
there must have been mowing debris thrown into the air. Some
spots looked like welts, never blistered. Others did
blister. The later appearing spots were less likely to
blister.

Urushiol is really strong stuff. I've heard/read that a
teaspoon full would be plenty enough to make everyone in NYC
plenty uncomfortable...

I would be curious to see some photos of the area around
where the Bamboo was cut. PI isn't hard to identify and
would still be in the area where you most likely got into
it. Especially of any three leafed plants growing 4 to 12
inches high. PI has alternate leaves with either smooth or
irregular edges on an oval shape. Most other harmless three
leaf plants have opposite leaves. If you take picts, be
really careful and watch where you step and touch.

Here are some links for PI I posted for someone else awhile
back:

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/796_ivy.html

http://www.bio.umass.edu/micro/immunology/poisoniv.htm

This page is good for identifying the plant. Note I don't
agree with all of the comments on it:

http://ncnatural.com/wildflwr/obnxious.html

Keep us posted on how you come out with this. It usually
takes a month for it to become but a bad memory...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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