"DEAR DR. GOTT: Last spring, I contracted rose-thorn disease. Very painful and extreme swelling occurred in just one finger. I was in the hospital for days under sedation and on antifungal meds. I’m still having stiffness and swelling in that finger now and then. When will this go away? I must say, everything is not coming up roses here.
DEAR READER: Rose-thorn (or rose gardener’s) disease has the technical name of sporothrix schenckii. It is a fungus that resides on hay, sphagnum mosses and the tips of rose thorns. It can cause infection, redness, swelling and open ulcers at the puncture site. The fungus can spread to the lymphatic system and move on to the joints and bones, where it ends up attacking the central nervous system and lungs when the thorn or thorns are deeply embedded.
Diagnosis can be complicated because the condition is relatively uncommon. When an ulcer does present, it is often mistaken by a physician as a staph or strep infection and gets treated accordingly. It is only when the antibiotics prescribed fail to eradicate the ulcer that physicians look outside the box...." (More at link! Medical slide over.)
Reality is not always as nice as Alexander Pope's "To die of Rose in Aromatic pain?" (An Essay on Man" Epistle I, line 200)
Wow that is good info. We have 4 rosebushes all more than 70 years old. One is older than that. Called Amelia damaske. It is by far the thorniest rose ever. But the perfume is divine.
So I was working on those wild roses today. Even though I had my gloves on, I’ve noticed tonight that I had a tiny thorn caught on my left thumb. I’ve removed it, and washed it thoroughly, although I must’ve washed my hands at least twenty times today. I’ve put alcohol on it, and now I have triple antibiotic ointment on it too. It looks a little swollen like you get with a mosquito bite. So…I’m going to be keeping an eye on this and if it doesn’t improve, I’ll be talking with the doctor. I had no idea that rose thorns could give problems. Thanks for this tip.