Skin irritation / rash - Bracken

[blue beastie]

Doing a lot of forest path maintenance at the moment - strimming etc.

 

Tonight a rash has appeared all over the backs of my hands, it looks similar to nettle stings but more severe and kind of weepy (though that may just be from scratching it as it itches like mad!)

 

I wore gloves as usual all day today, but it was raining and they were fabric backed so got soaked through.

 

Could this be caused by bracken?

 

Any help appreciated.

[Andy Collins]

It may be some very small insects coming out of the undergrowth, I hit a patch of brambles once and had a swarm of something all over my upper body, i couldnt see anything but it drove me crazy with itching, and only anti-histamine and calomine lotion calmed it down.Hi-viz jackets seem to attract every bitey stingey bug from miles around!

[elicokiz]

Doing a lot of forest path maintenance at the moment - strimming etc.

 

Tonight a rash has appeared all over the backs of my hands, it looks similar to nettle stings but more severe and kind of weepy (though that may just be from scratching it as it itches like mad!)

 

I wore gloves as usual all day today, but it was raining and they were fabric backed so got soaked through.

 

Could this be caused by bracken?

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Pteridium is dangerous stuff....dont know if what you are experiencing is an allergic reaction to plant material impregnated in your gloves??

check out the following link for more info Biological Flora of the British Isles: Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn - MARRS - 2006 - Journal of Ecology - Wiley Online Library the following is taken straight off the site:

For humans the health significance of Pteridium poisoning is potentially considerable. In Japan, Brazil, and across northern America (especially the Appalachians), Pteridium is consumed as the developing frond, i.e. the crozier or ‘fiddlehead’ (Fig. 7f). At this developmental stage the quantities of toxin are at a maximum, and in Japan there is the highest incidence of gastric tumours in the world (Evans 1976a; Marlière et al. 2000). High levels of gastric cancers have been identified in other areas where there are large Pteridium infestations, e.g. Costa Rica and North Wales (Buckley 1989; Villalobos-Salazar et al. 1989), although transfer pathways and causal relationships have not been proven. Some effects can be transmitted experimentally via milk (Evans et al. 1972; Villalobos-Salazar et al. 1990; Alonso-Amelot et al. 2000). Transfer to humans through drinking water has also been investigated, and although water soluble extracts of Pteridium contain carcinogens, Galpin & Smith (1986) thought this is not a major cause for concern. However, more recently Rasmussen et al. (2003a,b) has detected ptaquiloside throughout the plant–soil system in Denmark (e.g. 108–3795 µg g−1 in fronds, 213–2145 µg g−1 in rhizomes, 200–8500 µg g−1 in soil solutions). This chemical is water soluble and easily leached from fronds and they estimated a flux of 260 mg m−2 transferred to soils. These fluxes were considered a potential risk for the contamination of groundwater supplies, especially on sandy soils.

 

 

regards

Dave

[##ray##]

get some aloe vera on it (it works on lots of bites stings nettles etc ) make sure its 99.9 % aloe , on the other side watch out for bracken ive heard something about them giving spores off that affect breathing:confused1:

[porky]

Could it be hogweed?

[blue beastie]

Thanks very much all!

 

Andy: you're right about the hi viz, have found some amazing crawlies on my vest recently, the best was a scalloped hazel in caterpillar guise, it looked just like a tiny twig!

 

Dave: that makes for interesting reading, ta very much. In my (in)expert opinion i've a feeling it's definately bracken related. The more I read about it the more i'm starting to dislike the stuff!!

 

Ray - aloe vera's the one, thanks a lot. It's the only thing that's had any effect on it.

 

Porky - had a nasty hogweed encounter a while back, but it gave me blisters like i'd been burnt?! Don't think it was that this time.

 

Thanks a lot fellas.

[jp87uk]

hey, i read this post while trying to find out about rashes caused by bracken (or ferns)

 

i went biking in some woods about 3 weeks back now, and rode down a path with bracken overgrowing onto it, a couple days later i had the same symtoms on the backs of my hands, and for the first week, it itched like hell!! Now, its not really itchy at all, but has spread to my belly and my legs a little... ive been usin various stuff but nothing seems to be making it go away, ive used aloe vera the last couple of days, but im not sure a lot is happening.... how long did yours last? and did it spread like that?

 

any help would be sound. thanks

[landylass2a]

As a barrier cream, try udder cream with aloe vera(not uddermint)

 

available from most farm and horse type shops, excellent stuff.

For quick relief from bites and contact rashes try canestan cream from chemist, and take a anti histamene tablet, many availabe at supermarkets now.As used for hay fever.

Most of all as tempting as it is to scratch, dont, you are then likely to get a secondry infection:thumbdown:

[jp87uk]

well, ive been using 99% aloe vera, and its ok, it makes one part of the rash (the part where it started from) sting a little when applied, i dont know if this is a good or bad thing, but after a while it dries it up and kinda looks better, i cant really tell, i just dont understand why it has spread. I may have to visit a specialist....

[Taupotreeman]

What ever you do don't get Aloe mixed up with Agave. I cut down a couple of those in my garden recently and got splattered with the sap. I itched for a week and came out in white pustules where the sap had got on me. Awful stuff.