It can be extremely dangerous to be too close to poison ivy or to come in direct contact with it. Those who do may break out in a rash that is very itchy and annoying to deal with. This is exactly why it is so important to have the skills necessary to identify poison ivy out in the wild before it becomes an issue in your life. If you know how to identify it, then you should be in good shape for making sure you steer clear of it.
What to Look for if you Suspect Poison Ivy
There are some tricks that you can use if you suspect that someone has come into contact with poison ivy. The trick is to look in the area where they just came from to see if there is any jewelweed in that area. Those types of plants are indicative that poison ivy is nearby, and it will be a dead giveaway that you have a problem with poison ivy in the area that you need to be on the lookout for.
As soon as you suspect that someone (yourself included) has come into contact with poison ivy, the infected person needs to wash off the infected part of their body completely with soap and water. They should allow the soap and water to run over that part of their body for an extended period of time to make sure they are completely clean of the poison ivy. Otherwise, they run the risk of not getting cleaned up in a way that will protect them against infection in the future.
The last thing in the world that you want to deal with in a situation like this is an infection that continues to spread all throughout your body. Unfortunately, this is possible if you continue to touch other parts of your body. You should try to make sure that you don’t reach for your eyes or any other sensitive part of the body if you are afraid that you may have poison ivy on you.
Steer Clear of Areas with Poison Ivy
One thing that you can do to keep yourself as protected as possible is to simply avoid areas where you believe poison ivy may be. You will want to steer clear of these entirely and make sure you don’t put yourself at risk of coming in contact with the plant at all. After all, the best way to keep yourself safe in these situations is to avoid them at all if possible.
Make sure you steer clear of areas with a lot of overgrowth of plants in general. You will probably notice that these are the types of spots where there is the highest chance of a poison ivy outbreak. If you can keep yourself away from those areas, then you should be able to avoid the very worst of a poison ivy outbreak.
Always react quickly to any situation where you could potentially experience contact with poison ivy. If you are willing to do that, then the risk of getting hurt by this plant drops off quite a bit.
