Brown Recluse Spider (Bite)

Posted by danielj June 10th, 2004 at 12:00 am

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These photos were received by me via e-mail to alert people to the danger of its bite. You may not be able to show the reaction on your website but you could alert everyone to be extremely cautious.
Jill Allford living in southwestern Missouri.

Thank you Jill,
We recently received the identical photos from another reader. The Brown Recluse bite causes the tissue around the bite to die leaving a horrible scar. We will build a new page devoted specifically to bites thanks to your letter.

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Comments 1

mikefreeman wrote:
My wife and I were doing some research on Brown spider bites, and while this necrotic effect is sometimes seen with their bite, medical professionals haven’t been able to directly link the effect to the venom. They have, however, found large amounts of MRSA bacteria in them, which can cause large-scale infections and similar effects if left untreated.
The bacteria is common on many people’s skin, and under fingernails. The bite of the Browns spider is extremely itchy (as my wife can attest, as she’s been bitten). Some have theorized that instead of the bite causing this effect, people scratch at the itchy bite, pushing MRSA bacteria into the open bite holes, beginning an infection. Unknowing medical professionals treat it as a venomous bite rather than a bacterial infection, and it gets out of control, killing the affected flesh.
So, the first thing I would do if bitten: wash hands and under the fingernails, don’t scratch at the bite, and if it does begin to change color or grow larger (beyond a small red bite-bump), see your doctor and in addition to letting them know about the bite, insist that they check for bacterial infection as well.
Just a thought. These spiders might not be as dangerous as advertised!
Posted 24 Jun 2010 at 12:47 pm ¶