Poison Ivy Contagious

Many people want to know is poison oak, poison sumac, or poison ivy contagious? That is if you have an active poison ivy outbreak can you give to your children or spouse through physical contact with the outbreak such as broken blisters or oozing skin.

The answer is generally no, poison ivy is not contagious as long as the secondary contact (scratching and touching) happens at least 2 hours after the initial contact with poison ivy and the skin has been scrubbed or washed with a solvent or soap based cleaner.

Urushiol, the oily resin in the big three that humans react to, that causes allergic contact dermatitis in people, generally absorbs into the skin within 2 hours of contact of the skin. The subsequent outbreak (rash and blisters) is the body’s response to Urushiol.

In hypersensitive people, it only takes about 2 micrograms of Urushiol to get a reaction. The average grain of salt is about 60 micrograms, so a comparable size of urushiol would effect up to 30 hypersensitive people with poison ivy.

Urushiol is a relatively stable compound and can stay active for years unless it is exposed to air and moisture that will cause it to oxidize and dry up over time becoming harmless.

Poison ivy sap can easily be transferred to people from contaminated clothes, tools, gloves and the fur of animals or pets. When urushiol penetrates your top layer of skin or epidermis it goes through a oxidation process changing to a more reactive “quinone”. This allows it to bind to proteins in your deeper layer of skin starting the reactive process.

At this point the protein cell bonded urushiol is almost impossible wash off and creates a “beacon” for circulating T-cells. The activated response is an all out attack by your own body to the area where the urushiol has bonded thus creating the red, itchy rash and blisters. The blisters contain body fluids from the under skin attack by your own body.

More Resources:

Poison Ivy Wiki

Poison Ivy Rash Mayo

Poison Ivy Studies – UMMC

Poison Ivy Cream

Poison Ivy Spray

Poison Ivy Rash

Poison Ivy Treatment

Poison Ivy Cure

Get Rid of Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy Contagious

Poison Ivy Remedy

Poison Ivy Blisters

Treat Poison Ivy

Kill Poison Ivy

Treatment For Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy Rashes

Poison Ivy Pictures

Poison Ivy Remedies

Poison Ivy News & Information

Poison Ivy FAQ’s

Poison Ivy Information

Poison Ivy Articles

Poison Ivy Research

Poison Ivy Treatment Information

Poison Ivy Oak Sumac Treatment

Poison Ivy Eguide

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