An Even More Dangerous Poison Ivy Due to Extreme Weather

Getting hit with a poison ivy case is one of the few things that can ruin a good outdoors activity. The plant, when touched, causes too much itchiness and oozing blisters. It is also known to be rampant during a warm weather.

Just when people think things won’t get any worse, it just did. Scientists have recently found a link between extreme weather changes to creating ‘super’ poison ivies.

According to a study in 2006, an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide fuels the growth of weeds. It also increases potency of urushiol, anoil found at the root of a poison ivy rash. Aside from the said plant, poison oak’s and sumac’s effects have also been aggravated because of extreme weather.

Jacqueline Mohan, assistant professor at University of Georgia, said this about the correlation they found, “It was the most responsive species to the higher carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The average little tree that I measured grew 8 percent faster. And poison ivy grew 149 percent faster than it would have under ambient, normal carbon dioxide conditions.”