poison ivy

[rubiconruby]

Does anyone know if poison ivy can be spread in a hot tub. A friend of mine has it on her hand and wants to use the tub to make it feel better. We are wondering if it will spread it the water or will the chlorine kill it. Im so happy Im not allergic to it.  thanks for any info.

[rfraboni]

Technically poison ivy is not contagious, it is only spread through coming in contact with the plant oils.  If your friend has had it for a time, it is usually fully bonded to the skin in a short time, the spreading that is ofter seen is usally either due to re-exposure or different levels causing slower reactions.  There should be no risk for spread to anyone in the tub.  

Personally I would be more concerned if your friend has open sores, could be an opening for serious secondary infection, I know we all like to think are tubs are well maintained and no extra bacteria living in that nice hot water, but for there safety I would be very careful.

Granted I am not a physician and do not claim to have the answer, just wanted to share some information.

http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/welcome.html

This is a great poison ivy site and the message board is monitored by MD's and the other people there are very helpful.  

 

[Ruby]

rfraboni-

Thanks for that website-very interesting.  I bookmarked it for future reference.

[rubiconruby]

thanks rfraboni
that site is pretty good. i never thought of the idea of a secondary infection. she wil have to either stay out   or be sure to keep her hand out of the water :-/ guess that would be better then nothing. i also posted a question there. im gonna be sure to show her the site. Her and her boyfriend are always getting poison ivy.  thanks

[Bonibelle]

We live in the woods and are always exposed to poison ivy. While I don't react (that can change), my husband and kids are highly allergic. Anytime that we do work outside we are careful to shower in Dawn dish detergent. It has a powerful de-grease agent and so far has proven the best preventative. Maybe you could give your friends a bottle!.. I agree that open sores can result in secondary infections or the spread of skin organisms that could cause you problems.

[Brewman]

Dawn dish soap really does cut grease and oil!
I once got dirty motor oil in my hair (dont' ask), and nothing would get it out.  In desperation I tried Dawn, and it got the oil right out.

[Bigbender]

Ruby,
Earlier this summer, I was clearing an area above the house and got into a bunch of poison oak. My normal routine is to jump in the shower as soon as I'm finished and do three consecutive soapings. This helps but I'll still get spots on my wrists and between my fingers.

Now that we have a hot tub, my wife suggested getting in there so I could soak in the chlorinated water. Good idea.... ! I took one shower and climbed into the tub with a fresh tablespoon of Dichlor. She got in the tub soon after I did and she never got any poison from me. The Dichlor does the trick because I've had less problems this year than I've had since I started getting poison.

I'm not suggesting that you invite your neighbors over for a "curing soak" every time they have it but I wouldn't worry about someone else getting the poison from them. Think about it this way...Lake or river water can be loaded with im-purities (some I wouldn't want to mention here) but people swim in them all the time.

[rubiconruby]

I think they just need to take their cat and give it a good bath. That poison ivy site had lots of great info too.

[rfraboni]

I am happy that you found the site informative.  Honestly, I wish I didn't know about it, I found it while suffering at the time.  Granted I was no where near as bad as 80% of the stories I had read about or saw pictures of.