Horrendous Pictures Show What Happens After Touching UK’s Most Dangerous Plant

I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of giant hogweed before but after seeing what it can do to you below, I’ll definitely be making sure I steer clear of anything that looks like it in the future.

Images VIA

Two incidents have gone down this week which show just how dangerous the plant can be. The first occurred up at Longsight Park in Bolton, where a primary school girl suffered second degree burns after briefly touching the tall cow parsley like plant. She was admitted to hospital and it eventually cleared up after she was in agony for a couple of days.

The other case involved 53 year old Nick Sherratt, who was in contact with the plant for about 30 seconds after he slipped off a footpath near Porthjoke Beach, Cornwall. Nothing happened initially, but he woke up the following day with a terrible fever and horrible shivers and began puking incessantly.

After that, a huge red mark with a black spot at its centre emerged where the hogweed had touched him, leaving him almost unable to walk. Here’s what he had to say about his experience:

It was absolutely excruciating pain in my calf muscle; my skin was literally feeling like it was on fire.

If somebody came with a hacksaw, I would have gladly said please take it off. It was so, so painful.

In one of the photographs the blister is like the size of a golf ball – that one was absolutely horrendous; very, very painful.

The best I could do was get myself to the toilet or the bathroom, I’ve spent a lot of time in bed, a lot of time sleeping.

I can’t stand even now for very long. Walking is getting a little easier.

Geez that is rank isn’t it? Especially that second one. Grim.

Nick has now been prescribed some powerful antibiotics by his GP and is recovering, but the scarring could last for months or even years and long term sensitivity to light could also be an issue. Sounds like an absolute nightmare for the guy, so if you see any of this stuff around then make sure you don’t go anywhere near it. Seriously bad vibes.