Stephen Henning wrote:
Leon Fisk wrote:

You don't spread it around by scratching the sores.

But if the chemical irritation is bad enough that you get blisters that
fill with liquid, the area is so sensitive that the mere act of
scratching and irritating the area spreads the inflammation and makes it
worse. It is not the urushiol spreading the poison ivy, it is the
scratching and irritation spreading the inflammation. It heals much
faster if you don't irritate the area mechanically by scratching. The
itching may drive you crazy, but it will heal faster if you don't
scratch.

Most poison ivy medicines just treat the itching. This in combination
with allergy pills and steroids is about the only treatment. In any
case, if you don't scratch it and get an infection, it usually starts to
clear up in a week.

The urushiol is fairly slow acting. When I was in the Forest Service we
used a prophylactic gel soap. We covered ourselves from head to toe with
this soap before a shift on a forest fire. Then when we got back 13
hours later, we took a shower in a steam and washed the soap off. This
prevented us from getting poison ivy everywhere except in our eyes and
lungs. We had to wear face masks when we were in areas where poison ivy
was burning since the smoke carries the urushiol in the air and it gets
in your eyes and lungs.

Once the oil is on your skin and/or clothes, you can touch it and spread
it around. You can get the oil on your hands when you take your clothes
and shoes off and then spread it to tender parts of your body. If you
sit on furniture with contaminated clothing, other people who touch it
with bare skin can get urushiol on them. If you take a good shower
after working in poison ivy with a brush and a strong soap it usually
will remove most of the urushiol and any reaction will be rather
minimal. Be sure to scrup in tender areas like between your finger and
around your wrists. Some people have hours before a visible reaction,
others have days. However, once you start seeing the reaction, it is
too late to prevent it.

Has anybody had any luck with the product called "Zanfel"?

It's fairly new, and very expensive - about 40 dollars for a one ounce
tube. It's a special wash for poison ivy rash. The manufacturer
claims it stops the itching by bonding to the urushiol and removing it,
even after the oil has bonded to the skin and your immune system has
started attacking it (creating the rash and the itching).

I have a tube of it here. I have used it with mixed results.