Quote:
Originally Posted by Kayleigh  On last nights programme of gardeners world, they are helping a couple with a young child to create an organic garden. One of the gardeners on there said Blackthorn is not recommended for use in gardens as the thorns can give you blood poisoning.I planted 3 last year  luckily I have not been pricked yet. Has anyone else heard of this. |
There's a lot of confused statements in this thread, to a degree that might actually be dangerous.
Perhaps the biggest confusion is between on the one hand Septicaemia which is a condition where blood cells become infected by a bacteria, and on the other 'septic' infections of the skin. Septicaemia kills, it almost always requires urgent medical attention - it does not usually manifest in having a pussy wound - although such wounds may themselves lead to Septicaemia.
The belief that thorns specificaly can cause blood poisoning ( of course anything that penetrates the skin has the potential to do that) probably originates in the medieval practice of planting roses in graveyards - certainly the medieval belief was that a prick from rose thorn would cause blood poisoning - i.e death !
In any event, all of us should keep up to date with our tetanus shots, and neither blackthorn nor roses are more likely, or most importantly less likely to cause Septicaemia than any other wound - there's lots of bacteria out there sitting on every sharp object you are going to encounter.
CM