For most kids, summertime brings rewards unlike any other time of year. At parks, in backyards, they get to run and play in the great outdoors. But all the greenery is not without risk. There's a plant with three leaves to look out for.
10 year old Carlos Collins spent the weekend fishing. He caught two catfish and a bad case of poison ivy. His mom, Tamara London, said, "He came home yesterday like 6-o'clock, and he had bumps on him, so I gave him some Benedryl"
Carlos' eyes were swollen and he has tiny red bumps all over his body.
Deborah Young is a doctor with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, "He has the same little popular rash that he has on his neck. Only he has many more of them on his upper back and on- on the nape of his neck."
Doctors call this kind of allergic reaction 'contact dermatitis'.
"It's your body's reaction to- to the chemicals like the oil from the poison ivy leaf, for example.", said Young. "Because it's an allergic reaction, they get the rash and they get the swelling. So the way to treat it is an antihistamine for itch, because the more you itch, the more you scratch, you actually spread it on yourself."
She's also prescribing hydrocortisone cream to treat the rash. But because Carlos' eyes were swollen, the Doctor said he'd need one more medication. "Sometimes the kids are swollen enough that they actually need oral steroids, so that you can stop the allergic reaction response happening within the body."
