Help Your Kids Outsmart Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac at Camp

An Overview on Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac

Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac belong to a family of plants that produce one of the most common allergic reactions in the United States. The American Academy of Dermatology estimates that anywhere from ten to fifty million people are affected each year.  

The allergic reaction is also known as urushiol-induced contact dermatitis. Urushiol is an oil-based allergen found in the sap of poison ivy, oak, and sumac plants. When people come in contact with the oil, it often adheres to the skin within minutes to a couple of hours, producing the telltale allergic responses of itching, swelling, rashes, and oozing blisters.  Reactions can result from direct contact with broken leaves or stems of the plants, indirect contact by touching something that has urushiol on it, such as socks or bed linens, or through airborne exposure to burning plants.

What It Looks Like

There is no simple way to describe what poison ivy, oak, and sumac look like. The plants grow almost everywhere in the United States, except Hawaii, Alaska and some desert areas of the Southwest. In addition, the plants do not typically grow in elevations above 5,000 feet. The prevalence and structure of each plant vary by region and season.  However, there are some general features specific to each plant noted below that may help your kids avoid a run-in:

The Importance of Preparation

Everyone is well-acquainted with the advice to avoid the plants.  Sometimes, that is easier said than done, particularly when dealing with adventuresome children.  Still, there are steps that can be taken to minimize poison ivy’s possible effects on your children’s outdoor discovery. Here are a few key recommendations:

1. Educate your kids on what the plants look like and encourage them to avoid them.
2. Whenever possible, advise them to wear long clothing when heading out into areas where there may be poison ivy, oak, or sumac.
3. Encourage them to apply a poison ivy/oak barrier cream to exposed areas of the body before heading outdoors to decrease risk of allergic outbreaks. There is a product on the market that features an SPF 20 sunscreen for double protection.
4. Instruct them to wash all exposed areas thoroughly upon returning to camp, taking special care to remove clothing, which can often be a prime carrier of urushiol oil.  It is recommended that cleansers specially designed to remove urushiol are used to further reduce the chance of allergic reaction.

Treatment Options

Even careful children can fall victim to poison ivy reactions.  After a breakout occurs, the attending nurse can choose from a host of over-the-counter treatments, such as calamine lotion or hydrocortisone, which temporarily suppress the itch but do not remove urushiol.  For severe cases in which the rash covers more than 10% of the body, doctor-prescribed steroids are the best solution. 

Many mild-to-moderate cases of poison ivy can be successfully treated with a special, new class of post-symptomatic washes that are specifically formulated to remove urushiol oil after bonding to relieve itching and irritation.  These washes are the first treatments that target the source of poison ivy allergic reactions by safely and effectively removing urushiol—the root cause.  

Summary

This article has provided a high-level overview on poison ivy, oak, and sumac with practical treatment and prevention options that you can put into practice for your family this summer and beyond. There are countless resources and education papers that delve into more specific data. As is typically the case, an online search is the best place to start.

Cadey O’Leary Hershoff is president and founder of Cade Laboratories, maker of the büji™ line of poison ivy/oak relief and protection products.  She may be contacted directly at coleary@cadelabs.com. 

Healthy Kids