As summer time rolls around, the risk of exposure to poison ivy plants increases. While you can do your best to keep you and your family away from these potential vacation buzz kills, accidents do happen since a poison ivy plant can hide itself away from plain sight. In case you’re planning your next camping trip or just intend to do a bit of strolling off the beaten path, here are some common questions answered about poison ivy, including one of the most popular questions – Is poison ivy contagious?
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A: Simply by coming into contact with poison ivy is sufficient to become infected. Poison ivy is coated in a chemical called urushiol. This chemical is a defense mechanism that protects the plant from many species who would eat the plant. Allowing any urushiol onto your skin will cause a poison ivy rash within hours unless preventative measures are taken to remove this oil quickly.
Q: What measures can be taken to prevent a poison ivy rash?
A: Beyond avoiding contact altogether, the best way to prevent poison ivy from giving you a rash is to quickly wash your skin with ice cold water or rubbing alcohol within the first hour or so of contact. Do not use warm or hot water to remove the urushiol and do not use soap. Hot water and soap can leave the skin more vulnerable to the urushiol soaking in since hot water opens ups the skin’s pores and soap removes the top layer of skin, allowing the urushiol oil access to deeper layers of tissue.
Q: What does a poison ivy rash constitute?
A: A poison ivy rash will generally occur several hours after initial contact with a poison ivy plant. Generally, the rash will begin as a small red dot that will begin to spread as the urushiol oil circulates throughout the body. While this rash may remain small, there are numerous cases of the rash covering the entire body from head to toe. The red rash will also be immensely itchy and often causes sores, bumps and boils to form as the allergic reaction progresses in the body. Again, touching the rash will not spread poison ivy infection as poison ivy is not contagious.
Q: How long does it take for the poison ivy rash to go away?
A: Depending on how much urushiol oil came into contact with the skin and if any preventative or treatment options were used, a poison ivy rash can last between a week and a month. Over the counter products are available to help speed up this time frame and particularly severe cases of poison ivy can be treated by a medical professional.
Q: Is poison ivy contagious?
A: No. Poison ivy cannot be transmitted from person to person by contacting the rash. While you may inadvertently catch poison ivy if you come into contact with residual urushiol oil on the skin of someone who recently has brushed against poison ivy, the allergic reaction poison ivy rash cannot be transmitted.
