Suspicious Spider Bites on LI, NY...Black Flesh Symptoms

Newsday ^ | 6/29/02

[DaughterofEve]

"In what experts say is a rare if not near-impossible occurrence on Long Island, at least three people have been diagnosed with brown recluse spider bites this week." "The clustering of three or four cases in one week left many skeptical."

[medved]

Sounds like another problem made to order for DDT.

H.L.Mencken had a plan to end prohibition which would have worked had the govt not wised up and ended it when it did. Mencken put himself through the standard beer-brewing course in Germany at his own expense and was proceeding to teach five of his friends on condition that each of them teach five of THEIR friends, on condition that...

Somebody needs to do the same thing with DDT.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Bio-warfare?

[CyberAnt]

"serious little buggers"

You bet they are - an X-brother-in-law died from the bite because he wouldn't go to the doctor.

[cgk]

This is exactly what happened to my husband the week AFTER Sept. 11th, after coming back from Big Sur, CA. We went to the hospital after it got worse (within 24 hours), and the admitting nurse (male) said it "could be anthrax". They did not do a blood test, though I requested one, to check for anything it could be, including anthrax antibodies.

We called, and were VISITED by & called by: poison control, the CDC, the FBI in both LA & SF, Special Agents to the US Food & Drug Admin's Office of Criminal Investigations, Public Health Investigators.

Noone wanted to touch it. And noone said it was definitely a brown recluse bite (apparently rare out here), or a Black Widow bite. They looked at it, asked if my husband had been around farm animals, received any strange letters, and then stopped all contact. We self-medicated him with Zithromax, and it took 2 rounds of meds for the lesion itself to go away. He still has a scar from it.

I was bitten by a brown recluse spider in Florida several years back. No question about it, being that I had the dead spider and all. My symptoms were nowhere near as severe as my husband's. He had every symptom of cutaneous anthrax exposure, for several MONTHS (not including the lesion). And not ONE person said he did NOT have antrax exposure, just that they couldn't "rule anything out".

We posted this mess here on FR, but I am having a hard time finding the whole long post from October.

Mrs K

[cgk]

bump

Mrs

[discostu]

Well there's see and there's see. Tarantulas can probably only identify objects up to about a foot out, but chase the big blurry thing that's different. Actually tarantulas are really cool, I have picked up and petted them (a friend of mine unknowingly petted a brown recluse that's how I know it can be done, should have seen his mother's face when she saw what we were doing because she recognized the species right away), they're like chihuahas with extra legs and personality. Their bite does hurt like hell but that's because their fangs are so large (it's like getting two large sewing needles stuck in you, not fun) but no venom to speak of.

I love spiders. But I sympathize, I'm the same way about snakes. Even the ones I know for sure are perfectly safe, keep them away. Don't even like the reptile room at the Desert Museum and they're all behind glass.

[Humidston]

What an excellent graphic! Can you provide a link? (I'd love to see all the areas identified.)

[NautiNurse]

Great story and info. Thanks for sharing!

[Brad’s Gramma]

Here, Dearie, read THIS thread. YECH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lentulusgracchus]

Ten or twelve years ago, during the off-season, a defensive back for the Houston Oilers got a bite from a recluse in Louisiana while scaling a tree to retrieve a ball or frisbee his kids had lodged in the tree......he barely noticed the bite at the time, which was on his thigh. Later, his thigh swelled massively, and he nearly lost the leg. Of course, his overall conditioning was badly affected, too.

[First_Salute]

Speaking of spiders.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[First_Salute]

The spiders in the fruit coming from South America is stunning, during the wintertime; especially hanging around the bananas.

[cmsgop]

Thank You For The Info. My Wife was bit by a spider on a woodpile last night here in Washinton State. She saw this thread and is a little freaked. Her hand is a little puffy and has a raised white mark surrounded by red.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[First_Salute]

Just bumped to rintense, the fruit arriving from South America during the wintertime, here, has spider and other insect "nests" so to speak, particularly the bananas.

[First_Salute]

SMASH! (instead of a Bump).

[ASP]

Differential Diagnosis: Brown recluse spider bites can be distinguished from cutaneous anthrax in the following manner:
Brown recluse spider bite:
*Patient has a possible history of spider bite or recent exposure to spider habitat
*Bite lesion becomes painful
*Lesion may manifest the red, white and blue sign
Anthrax:
* Lesion is painless
* Ulcer and eschar are surrounded by characteristic non-pitting edema
http://www.acponline.org/biote rro/anthrax/brownrec_spid.htm

[snopercod]

Somebody needs to do the same thing with DDT. I like the way you think.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

When I was working in the ER we had a couple of suspected Brown Recluse bites. I remember there was a huge argument because Brown Recluses are not supposed to be native to California. The treating physician said yes, but they can hitch a ride in moving boxes, etc, from other parts of the country. I guess he was right.