Poison sumac

Plant resins, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac Metals (nickel or gold in jewelry)... 

Allergenic plants causing skin eruption by contact include poison ivy (Rhus radicans L.), poison oak (Rhus toxicodendron L.), poison sumac (Rhus vernix L.), and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.). In the United States, poison ivy and poison oak cause nearly 2 million cases of skin poisoning and skin irritation annually, for a loss of 333,000 working days. In addition, these weeds cause 3.7 million days of restricted activity among those people who are susceptible to the toxins (1). 

The most frequent causes of allergic contact dermatitis in the United States include plants (poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac), metallic salts, organic dyes, plastic resins, rubber additives, and germicides.74 The most common skin patch test allergens found to be positive in patients along with potential sources of exposure are shown in Table 32.1.75 In patients with occupational contact dermatitis who were skin patch tested, the common allergens included carba mix, thiuram mix, formaldehyde, epoxy resin, and nickel.76... 

Other significant phenolic resin compounds include the mixture of urushiol variants, immunogenic compounds causing severe dermatitis from the Rhus spp. (poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac). 

Pheasant Phasianus Poison sumac, 70% (44-100%) Decreased 10% not tested Abrasion, digestive Swank, 1944... 

Nonprescription hydrocortisone preparations Temporary relief of itching associated with minor skin irritations, inflammation, and rashes caused by eczema, insect bites, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, soaps, detergents, cosmetics, jewelry, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, and external genital and anal itching. 

The racemic mixt occurs free in poison sumac and is combined in the form of glycosides of many plants. It can be prepd by boiling xanto-rhamnin with dil sulfuric acid, filtering off the solids formed and saturating the filtrate with Ba carbonate so as to form a syrup from which the 1-rhamnose crystallizes. The prod is purified by extraction with ethanol and recrystn (Ref 2). The a-form is obtd from the racemic mixt by crystn from a hot ethanol soln. The (5-form is prepd by heating a-rhamnose monohydrate on a steam bath and then crystg it from an anhyd acet and ethanol mixt (Refs 4 5)... 

The effects of poison ivy constitute a type of allergic contact dermatitis with which people who spend time camping and in other outdoor pursuits may have an unfortunate familiarity. Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac contain toxicodendron, in which the active antigen is pentadecyl-catechol ... 

Anyone who has been afflicted by poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac appreciates the high potential that some plant toxins have to irritate skin and eyes. The toxic agents in the plants just mentioned are catechol compounds, such as urishikiol in poison ivy. Contact with the poison causes a characteristic skin rash that may be disabling and very persistent in heavily exposed, sensitive individuals. Lungs may be affected — often by inhalation of smoke from the burning plants — to the extent that hospitalization is required. 

Poison Sumac. Poison elder. Toxicodendron ver-nix (L.) Kuntze, Anacardiaceae. Tall, rangy shrub with leaves compounded with seven to eleven leaflets. Rachis is bright red and leaflets have no teeth on their margins, thus differing from nonpoisonous sumacs. Habit Southern Quebec to central Florida predominantly east of Mississippi River. Found only in bogs, swamps and wet bottom lands. 

Each year poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac affect 10 to 50 million Americans, causing almost two million cases of dermatitis. They are the single most common cause of allergic reactions in the United States. 

Poison sumac — Poison sumac is usually found in standing water like peat bogs in the North and in swampy areas in parts of the South. Each leaf has 7-13 leaflets, and it can grow up to 20 feet high. 

Poison sumac — This plant is more rare than poison ivy or oak. Usually found in standing water and swampy areas in the southern parts of the country. It can grow up to 20 feet tall. 

Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.Site Safety — General — Harmful Plants... 

The antigenic component of poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac, called urushiol, is found within secretory canals located in the plant s leaves, roots and phloem, which is just below the bark [30]. The active ingredient in poison ivy mostly comprises penta-dec(en)yl catechols [18], and for poison oak it is mostly comprises heptadec(en)yl catechols. In the case of T. radicansy exposure may occur to the tiny brown rootlets that attach the vine to the tree or post on which it climbs, but usually it occurs when the leaf surface is broken so that the sap containing the... 

Poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac are members of the genus Toxicodendron [22, 30, 33] (formerly... 

Fig. 6. Poison sumac, T. vernix, is a small tree or a large shrub found in peat bogs, in swamps or along backwater ponds in standing water or where the water table is high...

Sometimes a black deposit resembling black enamel paint can be seen at the sites of injury of poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac. This is a hardened form of the allergenic sap on the surface of the plant. The black material is not as irritating as the clear liquid sap, but it is still very allergenic. After prominent exposure to the plant, one occasionally finds black spots on the skin in the areas of the dermatitis (Fig. 7). This is called black-spot poison-ivy dermatitis [46]. The tendency for the sap to turn black can help to confirm the identification of poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac in the field [45]. The directions for doing this are found in Table 2. 

Poison ivy and poison oak have three leaflets per leaf. Poison sumac has 7-13 leaflets, usually 9... 

The most effective way to prevent contact dermatitis to poison ivy is avoidance of the plant. This requires plant recognition in all four seasons. The method used for identification of poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac is given in several published reviews [22, 28, 33, 51. 52> 53, 54]. 

Construction workers building Disney World experienced an epidemic of contact dermatitis from poison sumac [145]. Compositae dermatitis can also be seen in highway workers in this country, especially in main-... 

The related catechols that are categorized under the general name umshiols can be isolated from Toxicondendron species, such as poison oak, poison ivy, or poison sumac [18]. They are currently applied to produce traditional Asian lacquerware. 

Adawakar P D, El Sohly M A 1982 Isolation and characterization of a new urishiol component from poison sumac Toxicodendron verni. Phytochemistry 22 1280-1281... 

A hexose monosaccharide found combined in the form of plant glycosides. It occurs in free form in poison sumac. 

Skin care in the workplace has been moving to the forefront the past several years. Some areas of concern for employers include protecting workers from the sun s harmful rays insectcarrying diseases such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease poisonous plants including poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac and transmittable diseases... 

The capacity of the skin to absorb lipid-soluble chemicals is both a blessing and a curse. Transdermal medicated adhesive patches, for example, take advantage of the capacity of the skin to absorb small lipophilic compounds in order to administer chemicals such as scopolamine, the anti-sea sickness drug, and nicotine. Unfortunately, urushiol, the active ingredient found in poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac, also takes advantage of the skin s capacity to absorb small, lipophilic chemicals, and is absorbed via the dermal pathway. 

Cardanol is a main component of thermally treated cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL), and is a phenolic compound with a long unsaturated hydrocarbon chain substituted in the meta position (Figure 2.17a). Urushiol, which is obtained from lacquer tree, poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac (Toxicodendron), and used for a raw material of a lacquer (urushi) in East Asia, is also a phenolic compound of catechol with a long unsaturated or saturated hydrocarbon chain (Figure 2.17b). Cardanol-based polymers have been reported very often, while there are a few research reports on urushiol-based polymers. Research on polymers synthesized from cardanol or CNSL are reviewed elsewhere.In the late 1980s, cardanol or CNSL-based polymers began to be reported as novel phenol-formaldehyde type resins and novel epoxy resins.Thereafter, Pillai and his co-workers have vigorously studied synthesis of various type of cardanol-based polymers polymers obtained... 

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