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Health & Wellness
Summer Health Issues: Poison Ivy, Dehydration and More…
Enjoying summer weather and the outdoors can bring on certain health issues. Poison ivy rashes and dehydration are two common culprits. Internal medicine specialist and pediatrician at Mayo Clinic Florida Dr. Vandana Bhide says, "Everybody is outdoors and it's very easy to be exposed to poison ivy even if you don't know it. We see lots of rashes. The second thing I see is dehydration."
Dr. Bhide says to make sure you drink water, some sports drinks, even eat popsicles to stay hydrated. For poison ivy, any kind of topical agent or anti-itch agent, calamine lotion or a soothing oatmeal bath will help decrease the itch. If symptoms persist, see your health care provider.
Other common summer health issues include:
- Viruses - enterovirus and echovirus, symptoms include fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, body aches, dehydration
- Rashes - poison oak, poison sumac
- Heat-related issues - heat rash, heat exhaustion, heatstroke,
Journalists: Sound bites are available in the downloads. [TRT 1:14] Click here for the transcript of her comments.