Mango Itch?
Kenneth W. Mudge
kwm2 at cornell.edu
Wed Jun 22 01:12:45 EST 1994
Recently I was in Hawaii, doing some field work on an agroforestry
experiment with Leucaena trees, and at two of our sites Mango trees were in
abundance bearing luscious ripe fruit. I ate quite a few (up to 5 at a
sitting), beginning about a week ago. The same day, and for every day
since then I have been experiencing a whole body itch (scratch, scratch),
but only a slight visible rash. My companions, with more tropical
experience than I, told me that Mango, being in the Anacardiaceae family (
along with posion ivy, posion sumac, etc.), can cause a skin reaction (itch)
in sensitive individuals. Indeed, I am very sensitive to posion ivy and
posion sumac. Has anyone else ever heard of such a reaction to mango?
Is there anything I can do about it? Will it ever stop (scratch, scratch)?
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