Paula Kaufmann – CIH
For years I was the “go to person” when poison ivy was spotted in a yard – I was the neighborhood “poison ivy abatement expert”. I could always remove (yank out) the vines and clean up the debris with no rash appearing on my skin. I thought I was immune to the allergic response of the poison ivy sap. But, I was wrong.
As an industrial hygienist, I should have known better. For me, getting sensitized to the poison ivy required many, many exposures. But eventually, I did get sensitized. And now, I get contact dermatitis when I don’t even realize that poison ivy is near me.
I should have known better … I did the thing that I constantly preach not to do. I exposed myself to a chemical when I could have protected myself. I routinely design work procedures and select personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimize worker exposure to all chemicals. The fundamental concept is to minimize exposure because individuals have a range of response to acute or chronic exposure to chemicals. Some people have a response with very low exposures and others can tolerate much higher exposures before showing a response. This is known as the dose-response curve and we (industrial hygienist’s) explain this to workers and their management during occupational health safety training sessions.
There is lots of information on the web about poison ivy – how to minimize exposure, decontaminate your skin when you think you have had contact with the sap, and both home remedies for treatment of the rash. Here are a couple of sites with comprehensive information:
http://www.nps.gov/public_health/info/factsheets/fs_pivy.htm
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm049342.htm
Just to think, if I hadn’t been so careless about exposing myself to the poison ivy, I may not have become sensitized over my lifetime. All I can do now is try not to scratch and not do anymore weeding of the garden this season. In my next life, I’m going to wear a hazmat suit when clearing the overgrowth in the yard. I wish I had a second chance in this life!
When I was a kid, poison ivy was never an issue for me. But, partway through my teenage years I was helping my dad fix our street sign (private street, small town, over the years the snow plows had been slowly pushing it farther and farther over) and there was poison ivy in the bushes around the sign and I ended up getting a pretty decent itchy rash from it. Luckily, it wasn’t too bad.
[...] workers, and landscapers, often find themselves! And don’t think that you’re immune either. My coworker, Paula Kaufmann, CIH, wrote about her overconfidence that she had not been sensitized to… Maybe she should have paid attention to Emilcott’s poison ivy awareness and other outdoor hazards [...]