Have You Ever Lost a Limb to a Spider Bite?
A bite from a brown recluse spider can cause terrible gangrene and necrosis, and people have lost life and limb before. This concerns me. How common is this? Do you know anyone who has been affected? I live in the tropical wilderness and all kinds of bugs and creatures are always sneaking into my house. Am I just paranoid?
P.S.: Here are some gross photos:
http://www.brown-recluse.com/bitephotos.html
The bite from a Wolf spider is worse, and if a Grandaddy long legs could bite you, you’d die.
i my gosh ewww i didnt know that a spider could actually cause that, that is just gross
Yea i’ve seen it. Pictures from someone who got bit in the thumb. After a week or so the red bump starts decaying into a black wound. Nasty stuff, the brown recluse spider is considered very dangerous. It can also be fatal.
Gross! And ouch! I’m paranoid too now!
yes I know about these…these spiders are present where in live (in Central IL) I think about them every time I go to my basement. If you’re worried, try the spider trap thing.
One good thing about this spider is that it isn’t aggressive
I haven’t lost a limb to a spider bite, yet.
But I do have a friend who is an entomologist, she carries around viles of deadly bugs in her purse instead of mace.
This exact thing happened to me. Five times.
One study by a dermatologist who is considered an expert on the effect of brown recluse bites found that in North America there has NEVER been a single fatality that can be positively linked to the brown recluse.
The vast majority of verifiable brown recluse bites that do occur are mild in severity, and heal completely on their own with no medical attention at all.
Only 13 out of 1000 cases displayed any sign of necrotic tissue destruction, which is primarily redness and swelling around the bite.
The greatest danger with a brown recluse bite (or pretty much any other type of bite by anything) is the potential for infection when the victim scratches the wound with unclean fingernails.
Even if the series above does show an actual brown recluse bite (which cannot be verified), it is likely that the damage caused is through a secondary bacterial infection and not the spider venom.
Although the brown recluse is relatively common in the southeastern United States, it is not an aggressive species, and would be exceedingly unlikely to bite without being provoked. If you’re going to be cleaning up old dusty boxes in the dark, dank basement, you might want to wear gloves, but other than that you are perfectly, completely safe.
Not a limb but i was bitten on the penis and lost 2 inches of it, i now only have 1 inch left. I would show you it but i have a sneaky feeling i would get a violation notice.
I have a HUGE scar on my leg from a brown recluse bite! I have Orkin they are great if I see anything in my house that wiggles on more then 4 legs its toast…