A toxicologist’s guide to poison ivy’s itch and bee stings’ burning pain – 2 examples of nature’s chemical warfare

The Conversation —

Enjoying the outdoors carries the danger of running into nature’s less-friendly side: toxic plants and animals.

As toxicologists at the University of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Poison Center, we see many patients each year suffering from itchy rashes from poison ivy and stings from wasps or bees.

Plants and animals deploy toxins most often in order to defend themselves . Learning how they do that and what happens when the human body is exposed to these substances can offer insights on how to prevent or manage these encounters with nature.

The goal is not to scare people away from the outdoors, but to equip them with the knowledge to appreciate these organisms’ intricate self-preservation strategies and to protect themselves in return.

Poison ivy, a ubiquitous sourc