Assuming you mean "remove" instead of "sterilize", soaps will do the trick (it's an oil and therefore will dissolve in soaps). On a skin surface, you have roughly 5 minutes to do this before it bonds at the cellular level, after which, cleaning will not help the victim.
Poison ivy produces an oil called urushiol. Urushiol is an irritant to the skin and other tissue. If you touch the plant you will get the urushiol on you. Even long dead poison ivy vines can still be coated with the oil.
Urushiol oil is extracted from plants. It is a mixture of compounds. Which are substituted benzenediols. All of these seem to be nasty skin allergens. see wikipedia urushiol article for full molecular structures.
To clean urushiol off surfaces effectively, use soap and water or a specialized urushiol-removing product. Wear gloves and avoid spreading the oil by using disposable cloths. Wash the surface thoroughly and rinse with water.
1-5 years
The oil in poison ivy that causes the allergic reaction is called urushiol. It is found in the sap of poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac plants. Contact with urushiol can lead to a red, itchy rash known as contact dermatitis.
The active toxic ingredient in Poison Ivy is urushiol, an oil that bonds at teh cellular level and acts as an antigen.
Well, poison ivy itself isn't poisonous - it's the urushiol oil is the problem. One nanogram (that is, one billionth of a gram) is enough to affect an individual. Only roughly 15% of the world's population is NOT allergic to urushiol oil. So, be careful! Don't touch poison ivy, for it is better to be safe than sorry.
The chemical in poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac that causes allergic reactions is called urushiol. It is a resin oil found in the sap of these plants and can trigger skin irritation and rashes in individuals who come into contact with it.
as far as I know...no. I dont think it is.Answer:Nope -- not contagious at all, although Urushiol, the oil that makes poison ivy toxic, can last a while on shoes and clothing. Once on human skin, however, it metabolizes and cannot be passed.
It is not exactly an enzyme that makes poison ivy poisonous, rather a mix of chemicals known as Urushiol. Urushiol is an organic oil toxin found in plants of the Family Anacardiaceae (e.g. poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac). It causes the allergic skin rash on contact, known as urushiol-induced contact dermatitis.Urushiol is a mixture of organic molecules appearing together as a yellow liquid. Each consists of a catechol substituted with an alkyl chain that has 15 or 17 carbon atoms. The alkyl group may be saturated or unsaturated; urushiol oil is a mixture of saturated and unsaturated molecules. The mixture varies with the vegetative species. Whereas Western poison oak urushiol contains chiefly catechols with C17 side chains, poison ivy and poison sumac yield mostly catechols with C15 side chains. The allergic reaction is dependent on the degree of unsaturation of the alkyl chain. Less than half of the general population reacts with the saturated urushiol alone, but over 90% react with urushiol containing at least two degrees of unsaturation (double bonds).The toxic effects of urushiol are indirect, mediated by an induced autoimmune response. Urushiol chemically reacts with, binds to and changes the shape of integral membrane proteins on exposed skin cells. Affected proteins interfere with the immune system's ability to recognize these cells as normal parts of the body (perhaps causing the immune system to mistake them for invading parasites), causing a T-cell mediated immune response. This immune response is directed towards the complex of urushiol derivatives bound in the skin proteins, attacking the cells as if they were foreign bodies.
No, although scratching damages the skin and leaves open wounds, which may infect. Poison Ivy, Oak, Sumac -- all secrete Urushiol, an oil which causes the antigen reaction. Once it's absorbed or washed off, it's gone. The serous fluid in the resultant blisters is NOT antigenic.
The allergen in poison ivy sap, known as urushiol, is a lipid-soluble molecule. This is because urushiol is an oil-based compound that can penetrate the skin easily, causing allergic reactions upon contact. Lipid-soluble molecules like urushiol can bind to fatty tissues and trigger immune responses.