I suffered oozing yellow sores after a brush with a notorious garden plant... now SIX YEARS later I am still in agony

A person who suffered oozing sores after a brush with giant hogweed says they still suffer with pain six years later. 

Astra McCauley, 21, came into contact with the notorious plant in their grandmother's garden while they were still at secondary school.

One day Astra and a friend decided to chop down 'really tall plants' blocking the garden's exit - without knowing how dangerous they were.

It soon emerged the overgrown plants were giant hogweed - a plant that causes third-degree burns, blistering and sensitivity to sunlight.

The split decision left the friends feverously itching for the next couple of days - which later turned into years.

Describing the aftermath of their brush with the 'monster plant', Astra said: 'The next couple of days we were itching everywhere. Come to find out that plant was called giant hogweed.

'It itches like nothing you have ever felt before. I sat there crying and itching like dead at night. I couldn't fall asleep because of how much it was itching.'

Detailing how their injuries would ooze 'yellow tinted liquid', Astra elaborated on the extensive process they used to attempt to subdue the pain.

'Eventually, I had this whole thing of where I would scrub my body,' they said.

'I put gauze and then I would wrap and then put clothes over the top - which by the way was in the summer - so I was sweating like a dog,'

'So I had to cover my entire body and it was also to prevent me itching it in my sleep and spreading it anywhere else.'

They added the thorough process was necessary because if the sap infecting the skin came in contact with the sun it could cause third-degree burns.

After two to three weeks the itching began to subside, however, the trauma caused by the Giant Hogweed was reignited when Astra was bitten by a mosquito the following year.

'I get bit by a mosquito and I am scratching it and I see that yellow liquid come out, so I am like traumatized so I immediately flew into a panic,' they explained.

'I covered it up after scrubbing it with water, throwing out the scrub, covering it up with gauze finding a wrap and then going to get more supplies.'

Following the unpleasant encounter with the mosquito, the 21-year-old discovered the after-effects of Giant Hogweed can reemerge and persist for years.

'Once you are infected with Giant Hogweed it can come back for the rest of your life - just as bad as it was before,' they said.

'You can get sunburns more easily as well - for the rest of your life. And on top of that if it gets in your eyes it will blind you.'

The invasive plant  - dubbed one of the UK's 'most dangerous plants - can grow to heights of six feet, leaving victims blistered within 48 hours, hospitalized or even leaving permanent scaring.

For Astra, their hogweed burns typically appear around their legs every Summer, even six years after coming into contact with the plant.

The youngster has learnt to live with the symptoms of the dangerous plant and has even developed a more effective routine to stop outbreaks from spreading to other parts of their body.

Revealing they currently have a hogweed burn on their foot, Astra concluded:' So watch out for Giant Hogweed my dudes because that plant is a nightmare.'

This comes shortly after Britain has been warned about a record invasion of giant hogweed after mild and wet weather caused the toxic plant to bloom earlier than ever, experts revealed.

Britain is facing a 'huge year for the proliferation' of giant hogweed after identifying the emergence of the plant much earlier in the year than expected.

Keith Gallacher, director of Complete Weed Control in Scotland who handle ground maintenance and tree management, spotted young shoots of the rapidly-spreading and dangerous plant emerging in March.

He said: 'Our teams saw the much-earlier-than-expected appearance of the young giant hogweed during routine inspections in East Lothian, near Musselburgh.

'With such an early start, and with the rate of growth of which the plants are capable, it is likely that 2024 will be a bumper year for this rapacious invader.

'Like many invasive species, such as Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam, it was brought to the UK as an architectural oddity, but now it has escaped and, without any natural enemies, it grows into dense colonies, especially along watercourses.

'It is part of the Apiaceae family, which includes carrots, parsnip, cumin, coriander and parsley, but its dense foliage prevents light reaching the soil underneath, killing off native plants and leading to rapid soil erosion..'