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

By Christopher P. Holstege, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Virginia
Sandra H. Nixon, Fellow in the Division of Medical Toxicology, University of Virginia

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…

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