Protect yourself from Brown Recluse Spiders

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Brown Recluse Spider bites are nearly identical to Hobo Spider bites

Left untreated, spider bites can become serious

Brown Recluse Spider Stories

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Location: Wichita, KS Name: Becky Year: 2010
On Monday, May 31, 2010, I was in the garage messing around and it was a sultry day and I was messing around with the sheet rock that needed to be removed. I kind of felt a 'sting' or a 'bite' but just kind of rubbed where it happened and didn't give it another thought. About 2 minutes I began to sweat profusely and just thought it was because it was so warm and sultry outside. So I went in to take a shower and while doing so I felt something on my skin I knew was not on there before. Unfortunately it was in a not so easy spot to see no matter how I turned my head because the spot that I felt was on my lower left butt cheek. I tried everything to see what in the world it was. I gave up a few minutes later and walked into my bedroom to put on my night clothes when out of the corner of my eye I seen something small running from the clothing that I dropped on the floor before showering. I grabbed an empty medicine bottle and with a lot of effort I caught the creature that must have bitten me. Upon arriving to the doctor the next day with my trophy spider in hand he says, "yes, that is a brown recluse." Upon examination he says, "oh my he has bitten you twice." The doctor kept the spider because I knew I did not want him.Here it is now June 18, 2010, and the bite is almost healed up. My question is....is it possible that some of the other unusual symptoms I am having could be stemmed from the bite?Achy muscles in my upper torso?Sometimes I feel like my muscles just don't want to move, does that happen? Have you ever heard of this happening?My headaches are like nothing I have ever experienced?The aches and pain like I have the flu but I have no temperature or coughing so I am not sure. I just want to find out some of the back ground information before I go back to the doctor. I want to have confirmation that yes, this may be symptoms from the bite of the brown recluse.

Location: NC Name: Candice Year: 2010
My friend was bitten last Friday on the arm. He did not know that anything had bitten him. When he went to the doctor for flu-like symptoms, they pumped him full of antibiotics. It didn't really help him, because by Tuesday, he died. Please get any bites checked...you just never know. The doctors determined that he died of a brown recluse spider bite.

Location TX Name: Lisa Year: 2009
I was bite 8 years ago during the nightwhile asleep. I awoke in severe pain on my stomach, felt like on fire. We had fire ants outside and just sprayed so thought maybe we stirred them u. I put Benedryl cream on the place. The red spot was on my stomach. My husband and I stripped the bed. Lifted the mattress, nothing, so went back to bed this was around 6 am. I was hurting so bad couldn't sleep just in a short time I was burning all over and it was getting hard for me to breath so called a friend for her to come take care of kids and went to my doctor.
By time I got there, it was getting more difficult to breath and my whole body was feeling numb. My Dr. said he thought I had been bitten by a Brown Recluse spider but we never found one. He admitted me to hospital immediately and by time I got over there. I couldn't walk or breathe. When they got me to a room I was totally out and they said my whole system was shutting down, kidneys and lungs all. I don't remember anything for 3 days. My friends and Dr. brought in another Dr. who knew about Brown Recluse, and he said I was the worse he had ever seen. I shut down and ended up with a hole in my gut the size of a softball with lots of extra room.
When I finally came to, after 3 days, I couldn't move my legs. They said I had surgery never knew it. I almost bled to death 2 times after I came to. Couldn't keep it from rupturing, even if I moved my arm and bite was on stomach. I spent 9 days in hospital and then 6 months at home flat on back with home health. To this day I have severe nerve damage in my feet from the bite legs finally got better. And what’s really weird besides terrible scar, I have severe pain where bite was.
All I can say is I am glad to be alive. The Dr. is not sure how I came out of it as good as I did. Nerve damage is very painful and legs and feet really were effected, why, guess will never know since bite was on stomach. But I do know everyone that I have known that was bitten, said same thing they felt on fire. And Dr. said if I ever get bite again, most likely will not make it.

Location NM Name: Rebecca Year: 2009
About a week ago, me and my bf we're watching a movie in the dark when I felt something large running down my arm. I jumped ,slapped it off and assumed it was just a moth as it "flew" away. Then it burned really bad , like a hot needle all down my arm, and then I knew it wasn't a moth, so I turned the lights on and above my head was a brown spider, I tried getting close enough to see if it was a recluse and it went down it's web at me instead of crawling off. I told my bf to get it and he did then let it go outside before i could tell him to keep it (we never kill spiders, ya, we're wierd). After 3 days it ulcerated and now I have a small hole like a ciggarete burn. I have chronic leucoytosis and always have a fever and nausea. Unfortunatly I have no health insurance so I can't see a Dr. Fortunatly, I work at a allergy clinic and we're getting a CNP on monday so maybe she can check it out

Location Alabama Name: Donna Year: August 01, 2008 I was bitten on a Monday while helping someone clean out an old abandoned house. Barely felt the bite on my ankle area back part of leg. A couple of hours later I felt a bit sick. The next afternoon my ankle and foot was so swollen I could barely walk. I went to the doctor that Wed, Fri. and Mon. I was on crutches for a week. He put me on antib., batrim and pain meds. My leg stung at the bite spot. It was a large 50 cent size hard red bump. It abcessed. It had some black spots. That Monday I was admitted to the hospital to have the bite area lanced. They knocked me out for surgery. They had to clean it out pretty deep. I was in the hospital for six days. I was on antib. around the clock thru my i.v., I also was in such pain I needed pain meds 24/7 thru the i.v. also. I had a hard time walking for over a week. The bite area before and sometimes after the surgery felt like someone had stabbed me and jumped on the area over and over. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I had to have the area packed for about a week. That also is very painful when changing it daily. Its been almost 2 wks since I got out of the hosp. and I still have it bandaged and have to flush it out daily. Plus on antib. for another two weeks and an expensive antib. cream. I still have a small hole in my leg but it seems to be healing. I flush it with peroxide daily. I now am paranoid that I will get bitten again. Don't mess around if you think you have been bitten. Get medical help.

Location Clyde, KS Name:Melisa Year: August 01, 2008 Last summer while mowing, I obviously got bit by a recluse spider. My arms and hands itched that day but I felt no real pain...I always itched after mowing and felt stinging on my skin from weed allegens, so I thought nothing about it. I showered that night and went to bed only to wake up the next morning feeling very tired and kind of like I was in a dream world .. I thought it was my allergys and asthma acting up so I took some medicine and went back to bed..my mother came over and I could hardly talk to her..and told her I was sick with my asthma and very tired ..so she sit with me until I went to sleep.. I awoke hardly able to breath about 3 hours later and decided to call an ambulance. They treated me for asthma at the hospital and kept me. My husband came up later and they had me on oxygen and IVs..by the next morning I was intibated and taken to a big hospital and put into ICU .Of couse my asthma had flaired up and I had infection in my lungs and system but what they didnt understand was the two perfectly black spots that appeared on my wrist with swelling all around it. I thought it was from a broken IV but the nurses said no and were puzzled..the doctor said it looked like I'd gotten a bad burn. Four weeks later I ended up in the hospital again with an asthma spell and my wrist still hadn't healed and it hurt like fury and that is when I got told by a nurse that it sure looked like a recluse spider bite to her and there after almost anybody I was around that had knowledge of the bites said the same thing. It took a good 6 to 9 months to heal and has left a scar. I was on antibiotics in the hospital so thank God for that and I washed it out with sterile water and used peroxide sometimes..3 in 1 antibiotic salve topped with the pink caladryl lotion which seemed to draw out the poison..kill infection and pain. Am I leary of spiders..oh yeah..that day I remember picking up some brick and wood to mow and I had felt cobwebs but rerally didnt think a thing about it.

Location Montrose, CO Name: Roxanne Year: 2008 I just moved to Colorado from Michigan. I got up in the morning to go to the bathroom. When I came back to bed, I saw a spider in my bed. I killed it and brushed it's remains onto the floor. About 24 hours later, I felt a very wierd sensation on my head. It felt like something was crawling in my hair and I had very sharp,piercing pains down my head. My lymph nodes behind my ear and along my cervical chain began to swell. This lasted 4 days and I finally went to the ER. The Doctor told me that it appeared that I had, in fact, suffered a spider bite. He put me on Keflex. Three more days passed with no relief. I called my Doctor on the week-end. She called me in some pain medicine and it did not help at all. I went to see my Dr. the next day and she said that I had suffered a BR spider bite. She prescribed some stronger pain medicine and told me to stay on the Keflex. The redness is getting better but the pain persists. Very painfull bruised feeling. Very sensitive to touch, air the shower, etc. The wound seems to be getting better but the pain goes on and on. I would rather give birth as well.

Location Tulsa, OK Name: Debra Year: 2008 I grew up in the '60s in Northern Illinois,[Berkeley, Byron and Rockford], and contrary to popular belief by the authorities, BRs are up there, right along with the Hobos! I have seen them since childhood, when the Vietnam Vets came home with them in their luggage, and I've seen the bites they've left, both on me and others. Here in Tulsa, OK, we get bit regularly by BR and Hobo spiders, too. I used Prid Salve years ago, till the local stores quit carrying it in Illinois. Then we found out about Melaleuca oil and signed up to be Melaleuca Distributors. I've been doing this since 1992. The Melaleuca oil, T36-C7, and the Melagel, are both (R) products of Melaleuca - The Wellness Company. I highly recommend people stock up on these products as they are WONDERFUL for NEUTRALIZING the venom of the bites and reducing the swelling, especially if you get it applied to the bite site right away when you first notice the bite. My husband just got bit the other night on one of his finger knuckles and it swelled up to over twice normal size within an hour. I put the Melagel on it and a bandaid, and the next day he said it only bothered him a little, so he kept more Melagel on it. Now, 2 days later, he said it doesn't bother him anymore at all. There is also no physical sign of the bite left. My oldest daughter in the last 2 months scraped her wrist on the corner of a restroom sink counter and contracted MRSA from the wound. I applied Melaleuca oil onto a gauze pad and wrapped it up. I changed the dressing twice daily for 5 days, applying new doses of the oil each time, and when all was said and done, she no longer experiences any problems - not even a scar left.Last, but not least, in 1993 I was bitten by a woman who went berserk in my home. She bit into my right thumb, nearly completely through. I had 5 skin flaps on the top of my thumb, right through the nail and the nail bed. There were 5 more flaps on the pad side as well. I laid the skin flaps closed carefully on each side every day for the first few days when they kept flopping open, and applied the oil each time I changed the dressings - 3 times daily to start. She bit down to the bone, which I could see, and I was concerned that not only might I lose the nail, but the nail bed might never grow a new nail again, either. Thank God I was so wrong about that because of the Melaleuca oil! After the first week, I only changed the dressing once daily, and by the end of the 2nd week, I no longer needed a dressing at all. Not only did the skin flaps close up, but the nail, the nail bed, the bone and skin all healed with no scar AT ALL to show for it.This is the way it goes for all our family when we get bit or hurt in any way, so I can testify that I would not want to live without Melaleuca products in my household! I can be reached at health-is_your-wealth-2-at-yahoo.com (but just take out the underlines and hyphens and change the 'at' to the '@' sign to get the right address to email me with. If I wrote it all out correctly, the webcrawlers would inundate me with SPAM that I don't need any more of! I wish somebody would find out who these spammers are and inundate them with spam instead!) Truly, I hope that I have helped someone who has been suffering or who just wants to be prepared. Melaleuca products are also wonderful for mosquito bites, poison ivy, any insect bites or stings, and a host of other things, including gunshot wounds, which is what the troops in WW2 used it for as well. Contact me for further details and a link to view the products at, if interested. God bless you all.

Location Buffalo, NY Name: Bonita Year: 2008 I live in Buffalo,NY, and took my boyfriend Greg to the drive-in for his birthday July 2nd,2006, We were seeing "War of the Worlds" but at intermission the bathroom looked more like "8-legged Freaks!!" I thought I went in the safest looking stall but one li'l feller must've been hiding under the brim wainting for an opportunity!! I'd thought I'd escaped safely but 3 days later I was feeling poorly,lying naked in bed when Lo! & behold, the ever-observant Greg says, " What's that on your butt,honey?? I couldn't see the exact spot (no mirror low enough & at a bad angle for self-viewing). Greg however is remarkably resourceful & took a picture with his cel phone! I screamed in a panic-THAT is NOT normal!! It was a raised,wrinkled crimson circle with a necrotic area the size of a nickel. It was black. He packed me up & rushed me to the ER where a group of at least 15-20 doctors came in & looked at it (AND my embarassed behind)& their consensus was a spiderbite! One ventured it was a brown recluse due to my description of the other spiders I saw at the remote drive-in. Others said it couldn't be because I hadn't been to the South & they never were in NEW YORK before. I beg to differ...it was the singularly most painful experience I've ever had...

Location Southeast Kansas Name: SusanMarie Year: 11/2007
On the Sunday before Labor Day of 2007, my husband & I held a "RedNeck Drive-In" outside our 5th Wheel. We had been clearing out our house in preparation for an auction, so I had been poking into areas I had not seen for years. As we were watching the movie, I was bitten by "mosquitos" several times. About a week later, I noticed that two of the bites were not healing and it actually hurt to touch them. They were black in the middle and a raised redness outside the black. My husband finally convinced my to go to the doctor, who took one look & said they were classic brown recluse bites and put me on antibiotics. According to Trish (Nurse Practioner), I was bitten in a "good?" place; at my waist, where I have some fat. This has spared me from the spreading, but I still have two black spots where I was bitten. As an extra, I was also stung by a scorpion TWICE while living in far west Texas.

Location Houston, TX Name: Melanie Year: 10/2007
I was bitten by a Brown-Recluse on my face, below my eye-- in mid-Sept./2007, while I was sleeping. I thought it was just an ant bite, or maybe a pimple( which I am 34 yrs. old and hopefully over that stage). The bite continued to enlarge, and puss...it has been awful. I have confirmation from my doctor that it was a BR. I do have a scar, but what I am having problems with...is that everytime I cut myself shaving, scrape my knee, or nick my knucle cleaning...the wounds become infected. Frustrating..my body has never a such struggle with healing, since this BR bite. Does anyone experience the same effects? melamy3433@yahoo.com
Thanks!

Location Robertsdale, AL Name: Priscilla Year: 9/2007
My husband's cousin was bitten by a Brown Recluse about 2 wks ago.... he died the other day from the infection??!!!! STAY AWAY FROM SPIDERS its horrible. He was only 16 and was on antibiotics until the doctor took him off of them after only a week cause he ended up in a leg injury. He was sick like all the other stories but got to the piont where he couldn't move from his neck down, got admitted to ICU Friday morning and pasted on Saturday morning.

Location Pennsylvania Name: Joseph Year: 9/2007
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider and it kept me on my back for a week I never experienced this before I went to the doctor and it was confirmed she prescribed cipro witch I took for a week and now I feel better

Location Indianapolis, Indiana Name: Emily Year: 9/2007
I was at the park with my 7 month old. I knelt in the grass and felt 5 or 6 pokes on my shin, thinking nothing of it I continued to play with my son. When we were leaving, about 2 hours later, my shin hurt and itched terribly. There was a welt about the size of a quarter. The next day the entire lower part of my leg was red, swollen, and hot. It hurt to stand. As the day progressed my leg got worse and worse. By afternoon there was an area on my leg about the size of my palm that was greenish- purplish-black, still hot itchy and painful. I went to the ER where I was given IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics to take for 10 days. I was given the strict instructions that if my leg should get any worse, even a little bit, I was to return to the hospital to be admitted (I was not admitted on the spot because I did not have medical insurance). My leg never had open wounds, but it did take over a month for most of the swelling to go away. I had a darker spot on my leg for over a year. I had eurptions of wounds for about a year and a half. And they say the brown recluse does not live in Northern states.

Location Cleveland Name: Tracie Year: 9/2007
About 2 months ago a close friend of mine was bitten by something he didn't know what. He was putting Neosporin on it and keeping it clean a few weeks went by and he said that it was hard and red really crusty and sore. So he went to the er and found out that he had to sty they put him on iv's and try to heal it that way. Nothing worked so they had to do surgery to drain it. At this time they still didn’t know what it was. After all was said and done it was a brown recluse that bit him. It was in Mayfield Ohio, where they are rare, but he is fine now.

Location Arkansas Name: Gail Year: 8/2007
I was bitten 5 years ago. I had a very bad reaction to the bite. Even after all this time, I have alot of complications. When the weather gets hot I have problems with treamors, concentraction, and muscle pain. Does anyone else have these long term affects?

Location Oklahoma Name: Edna Year: 7/2007
I live in the country and have been bitten by the brown recluse and several other spiders several times, it just comes with the territory, even my granddaughter has been bitten by one of them and my son almost died with a bite from one of these things when he was a baby. So, you learn how to deal with them. First thing, a lot of spiders that have bit me I seen them but the bite was not as bad as a mosquito sting. However the brown recluse, when disturbed is very aggressive and it's bite stings a little worse than a mosquito bite. If you do not see what bites you, you can mix bleach with water half and half and put it on the bite with a wash cloth, getting the bite pretty wet, if it stops burning pretty quick it is probably a mosquito bite, the redness should also leave. However in a minute or less there is still stinging, rinse off the bite and pour 10% iodine on it and saturate a dry clean wash cloth with iodine put a cube of ice in it and leave it on there until most of the ice is gone. Need to keep the wash cloth with the iodine and ice pressed firmly against the bite, usually it will hurt as it starts getting the bite very cold, however since I have tried this method I have not even had to go to the doctor when I get bit. I am not telling you to not go to the doctor but you can do this first on the way to the doctor, and try to catch the spider if possible, he don't have to be alive, you can poor alcohol on him or spray him, or just put a glass or jar over him and slide plastic under that. But do not take the chance of another bite. I just got bit two days ago again, as we have been flooding in Oklahoma they have really come out, I was weed eating and felt a sting on my little toe and there that little jerk was! So I just applied the ice-iodine pack and there is no sign of a bite. And just in the time it took me to get into the house and get my stuff my toe was almost twice it's regular size! So use this pack, go to the doctor or hospital. I can also tell you that Begaul the roach spray that is very high about $12. A can is very good for spraying under your bed to keep them away for a good while. I also constantly mop with roach proof, as it is very safe for children and pets, but is a very effective insect repellent, so is Pinesol. I don't have roaches or hardly any bugs, but I do take precautions for that. Hope I have been of help to someone. Please feel free to e-mail me at edna@texomaonline.com and I can tell you what all we do on the farm to get rid of bugs with the least amount of chemicals and mostly natural repellents.

Location St. Louis MO Name: Diane Year: 6/2007
In the beginning of May, we had unusually cold weather. One evening, I was really cold, so I went into a downstairs closet and got out a blanket. I sat on the couch and wrapped the blanket around me, pressing it closely with my arms. Suddenly, I was bitten. It was painful - felt like a needle. A few weeks later I had terrible headaches and felt weak. At the same time, I had developed a target-like rash around the bite. The bite itched. The rash hurt and felt hot to the touch. The rash remained symmetrically round around the bite and got about four inches in diameter around the bite. I went to the doctor who said he didn't know what it was but it wasn't a brown recluse. I took antibiotics and prednisone and it got better about a month after the bite. The bite is still there and now hurts, but has gotten smaller and seems to be improving. I have since caught a spider in a sticky spider trap. It sure looks like a brown recluse. Does anyone know the long-term effects of a BR bite?

Location N. Texas Name: Elaine Year: 5/2007
In 1994, my mom got bit by a brown recluse on her thigh and had a terrible time. Necrosis took a saucer-sized chunk out of her leg. In 1996, while visiting Grandma's house, my six-yr. old son was bitten when he put on a bathing suit that had been laying on the floor. Thinking he had been stung by a wasp, I applied Adolf's Meat Tenderizer moistened with water. This always worked to take away the pain of bee stings of my kids. The next day, a bull's eye coloration formed and I knew it was not a wasp sting but a brown recluse bite. I called my chiropractor who is a very wise, holistic healer. He taught me to make a paste with powdered Vitamin C and a carrier gel and rub it into the bite area 3 times/per day and have my son drink Jason Winter's Detox Tea with 1 tbsp. of the powdered Vitamin C powder dissolved in it 3 times/per day. The bite formed into a blister and erupted but never developed signs of necrosis. We did the routine 3 times/per day for 2 weeks. The bite's blistered area healed without a scar. Four years later, my husband had a spider run across his chest and when he tried to brush it off it bit his shoulder. We looked at the spider and positively identified it as a brown recluse. I rubbed a paste of Adolf's Meat Tenderizer into the tiny visible bite for 10 minutes. The next morning, there was no sign of the bite. It was healed. I now keep a bottle of Adolf's in our emergency medical kit.

Location Palatine, IL Name: John Year: 4/2007
I usually have to be on my death bed to see a doctor however after 3 days of getting bit by something I went to see a doctor and found out what happened. After being told by what, I went to this web site which probably saved my life.I was bit by BrownRecluseSpider on July 7th 2006 and I'm still on antibiotics. I was bit on my chest and within days it appeared I was shotin the check by a "357". (Picture available upon request) I developed all types of infections due to the bite and although the "Hole" has closed I'm still living with the after effects of the bite. I played hockey as a Semi-pro goalie and had numerous broken bones, stitches, getting hit with hockey pucks traveling over 100 miles per hour, I was run over by a 6000 pound conversion van and had three back operations and my foot was crushed however I would gladly take another puck to the head or this time jumpin front of a van rather than get bit by another BRS.

Location Lawrencville,GA Name: Holly Year: 4/2007
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider about a year ago and I was only 14. I was cleaning my room when all of the sudden a pinch injection shot through my right arm. I thought it was just an ant or something that wouldn’t be dangerous at all, but oh was I wrong. At first it was just red and my mom said not to worry about it and that it would go away in a few days. About 2 days past and it only enlarged, but thank god it didn’t eat up my whole arm. The shape it stopped enlarging was shaped like a penny I guess you could say. Yeah, I was really scared, but my mom kept insisting it would go away. It began to look like a boil and that’s what I thought it was, but yet again I was wrong. My mom thought that if we were to pop the disgusting bumps that it would go away, but all that did was make it worse. After a week, a group of dead skin now covered over what I thought was a boil. Pus and blood would come streaming out and that really scared me. To tell the full truth I thought I was going to die, and that part of the opinion I was correct on. After all the pus and blood was done coming out the dead skin remained. One night as I was looking at it I lifted the dead skin and underneath was a whole in my arm. I felt like I was going to stop breathing, I started breathing hard in terror. After I showed my dad the bite he new exactly what it was and he took me straight to the hospital. I was continuously crying as I sat there waiting for the doctor to come out. First they took me to a nurse and she said I really needed to be here, that didn’t help me at all. She brought me to a room with my mom and told me to wait for the doctor to come in. When the doctor arrived he brought with him a few towels, a bottle of water and some strong pain medicine. He laid me down on the bed and placed a towel underneath my arm. He then laid the rest of the towels on my clothes that surrounded the bite. Then he started squirting the water in my arm to wash it up. As I lay there my mom asked him how bad it could get and he looked at her with a blank look.

Location Hebron, KY Name: Amanda Year: 3/2007
A couple of years ago i was playing on a wood pile at my uncles house when a spider crawled on me and i didnt even know it. Sometime during that night the spider bit me on my right leg. The next morning when i woke up my leg was swollen and all nasty. My parents rushed me to the hospital where i stayed at for almost a month and a half. I had not been able to use my leg or walk. After i got out of the hospital i had to go to physical therapy to walk again. These spiders are not something to mess with they can really hurt you...

Location Caesarea, ON Name: Terri Year: 3/2007
I live in Canada and I was bit by a brown recluse spider. As I was told it came off the fruit. I was bit in the night and didnt notice til the morning By the morning after I was rushed to the hospital with a very high fever my hand was swelled so bad I could not move it and what had been a regular looking spider bite had turned into a lesion which was scabbed with a blue and greyish color. I was sick with this for almost 2 months. I was put on IV antibiotics and a drug called dapsone. I was in and out of the hospital every 6 hours getting IV treatments. I did not have full use of my hand for 8 weeks. I am now left with a disgusting scar on my hand. Its interesting how they can get into canada. Ontario canada close to toronto! I was puking had a rash fever. The poisoning in my blood spread through my hand up my arm reaching my arm pit when the antibiotics finally reached it. Now if that would have hit my heart I would of died. How does this happen im only 18 years and have never seen or heard a story like this ever before.

Location Margate, FL Name: Brenda Year: 2/2007
We ordered 50 traps today. I was sitting Indian style on the tile floor painting baseboards in a closet. When I got up I was left with two red bumps. One red an swollen right away, ER trip to lance, pack and take antibotics. Untreated bite was worse two weeks later, another ER visit, lance, pack and more antibiotics. Different ER for each, both said BOIL. B*** S***!!! The most pain I have ever been in. I'll take the pain of giving natural child bith over that pain any day. Large puss filled holes on my behind made very hard to sit or wear clothes. Good luck !

Location Hebron, Kentucky Name: Amanda Year: 2/2007
A couple of years ago I was playing on a woodpile at my uncle’s house when a spider crawled on me and I didn’t even know it. Sometime during that night the spider bit me on my right leg. The next morning when I woke up my leg was swollen and all nasty. My parents rushed me to the hospital where I stayed at for almost a month and a half. I had not been able to use my leg or walk. After I got out of the hospital I had to go to physical therapy to walk again. These spiders are not something to mess with they can really hurt you...

Location Dallas, TX Name: Libby Year: 2/2007
I jumped out of the shower in a rush to get to thechurch potluck dinner. It was finally cold enough to wear a sweater so I had pulled a plush blue one out of storage. I had no idea that the sweater I had pulled out of storage harbored a Brown Recluse Spider who crawled out of the sweater and into my jeans as I showered. I dried off quickly, pulled on my sweater and squeezed into my jeans.As I tackled getting my dinner and 19 month old baby into the car I felt like there was maybe a sticker or something in my pants and I kept tugging at my jeans to see if there was something in there. Driving to church I began to feel weird. My throat began to itch and I was having symptoms of allergies. Once at church I began to feel progressively worse. My chest began to feel tight. I was having labored breathing. I thought maybe I was getting sick but at the same time, it dawned on me that I might of been bitten by a brown recluse. We had trouble with them the year before and my husband had been bitten. It had been a mild bite but it still required a piece of dead tissue to be surgically removed. My friends told me I needed to get to the emergency room. I was stubborn. I was getting chills and I felt horrible and just wanted to go home. I got the baby and drove home... breathing was difficult.Once home I did the most stupid thing you can do. I didn't know that hot water will spread the venom of a spider bite and I still wasn't sure I was bitten and I was so very cold. Annah was asleep when we got home so I put her in her crib and doing what I always do, I ran the hot water straight. I never add cold water to my bath. I love steaming hot baths that leave me looking like a lobster. Shivering and feeling miserable I eased into the extremely hot tub and soaked. As I soaked, the poison rapidly spread.Once out of the tub I still was having more trouble breathing. I have a nebulizer my son used for Asthma. I still had the breathing medicine for it and I treated myself. It helped.My husband came home and examined the area of pain... pain in my bum. Yes, I had been brutally bitten 2 or 3 times on the very bottom of my cheek bum. Feeling horrible I went to bed. The night turned awful as I experienced sharp pain, like a knife continuously cutting into my bum. I threw up violently all night. I tossed in turned and shivered and vomited into a bag next to the bed and was in pain. I knew I would be in the doctor's office the very next day and I couldn't wait to get there and thats coming from someone who hadn't been to the doctor in years and I tend to self treat at all cost to avoid the doctor's office.The morning came and my bite looked horrible. I felt horrible. It was confirmed by the huge blisters forming on my bum that it was a brown recluse. The doctor put me on Tylenol 3 and Prednisone. Nothing worked. I was so miserable. Night time was the worse. I had such sharp pain. I would sleep with an icepack on the site just to dull the pain. I could not sit down, I could not drive and if I did, it was with excruciating pain. I couldn't wear pants or anything that would put any contact on the sore. Within 2 weeks the sore was so horrific looking that I was sent in for emergency surgery. I received alot of gasping and "oh my's"... not too comforting. Of course, also humiliating due to the site of the bite but I was in so much pain I began to barely even care.Surgery was quick. They cut a big hole in my bum and sewed me up. They said I giggled and laughed during my knocked out state. I had never spent the night in a hospital before. It was okay until the morning time. I didn't realize I had a catheter and I hated being hooked up to an IV. I couldn't move. I was trapped in bed. I was thirsty and the nurse didn't come and I didn't realize they don't bring breakfast that you have to call for it so as time progressed I was so hungry and thirsty and crying. By 6 at night the doctor had still not come to see my stitches or to discharge me so I told my family and the front desk that I was leaving. I made them take out my catheter and I took out my own IV and so the front desk called the doctor for discharge instructions. I left crying and in a lot of pain but Lortab helped alot.Over the next 2 weeks or so I was still in a lot of pain and the bite site was still horrible to look at. The stitches began to pop out and the pain was awful. The surgeon had to remove all my stitches before it was time because they were coming out by themselves and the sore was still black and ugly and oozy. He didn't know what else to do for me so I asked to go to a wound specialist.That was the best decision I made, to go to a wound specialist. He told me that the reason my stitches popped out and the reason it was still necromizing was because they did surgery about a week too early. He said brown recluse venom takes about 3 weeks to get out of your system. Surgery had been a waste. However, I was in the best place to be and he cleaned my wound out and I had ointment that would continuously clean it . I have been going to him for a month now and have progressed alot. Last week my wound was 6 mm deep and yesterday it was only 1 mm deep. I am now on collagen swabs that stay in my wound to close it in. I can finally sit down without extreme pain.It has been exactly 3 months. I am very afraid of brown recluse spiders now. I sometimes am convinced one is crawling on me. I shake out all my clothes. I shake out my shoes. Its been a horrific ordeal. I can't believe such a small, frail looking spider can produce so much poison. I will always have a large scar on my bum. The beast bit me 2 or more times causing a large area to be gaping. Its almost over. I can see the end now. No pun intended. :-)

Location St. Louis, MO Name: Frankie Year: 2006
I wanted to let you know how much I like your spider traps. My family have co-existed with reclus spiders for the 30 years we have been married,we have lived in a 100 year old farm home that has been in the family 55 years. My Sister bought me a pkg of your traps about 2 months ago. I set all 4 out and made a count tonight. Besides a couple of other type spiders they are ALL recluse including about half of them being little babies. 1 trap had 112! Another trap had 80! The other 2 only had about 20 each. I guess this blows your 44 record away! I can submit pictures or send the traps if you are interested.I set out new ones tonight as the others are getting pretty full. I can also kill them myself without having to search to much, killed 14 one night on my way to bed.They seem to come out at dark and sure like sitting in the corners of our wooden steps going upstairs! Thanks so much for your great product!!!

Location Hendersonville, NC Name: Julie Year: 2006
I was bit on the temple of my face by a brown recluse spider. My husband and I had just moved to this home--on the side of a hill with forest and a stream across the way. I also have 4 Great Pyrenees dogs who bring attention to fleas...On Sat, Oct 14, I awoke with what I thought was a sort of weird pimple--or flea bite (I am allergic to flea bites-and have had my share of run-ins with fleas)--only it hurt more than a flea bite--and I rarely have any acne. By Monday, it was festering--I made the mistake of trying to lance it--but it was very hard and very painful; It also had doubled in size. It made me feel feverish and as though I would throw up. I thought at first these symptoms were connected to the hard work of moving and a cold I had gotten. By Friday, Oct. 20--I was in such pain; I went to the doctor (My mother's doctor--so she took me on quickly--I called that morning!) She (and another doctor) said it looked like a spider bite and gave me a big shot of antibiotics and a prescription for antibiotics. It is now Sat. evening, Oct. 21. The sore is the size of a quarter. It is very painful- pressing squarely on my left temple. My left cheek is swollen to the point I can see it with my left eye as I glance downward. I also saw the brown recluse spider running across my carpet today--my husband killed it and I saved the flat body--which is definitely an adult brown recluse and I am taking it to my doctor on my next apt. On Monday my doctor said I might require surgery because it has grown so quickly and has spread the poison so far throughout my face. I am not looking forward to that because of the pain--and because I switched jobs and have no insurance. I guess the moral of this story is--bug bomb the place you're moving into before moving into it.

Location Greely, CO Name: Kelli Year: 2006
I was bitten about three weeks ago by a brown recluse spider. I noticed the bite because my leg was hurting really bad, so I told my mom. She called the doctor and he told her to bring me in the next day so that he could look at it. I went and saw my doctor and he said that is was a brown recluse spider bite. He put me on some strong medication that I had to take for 5 days (3 a day) but the sore is still there, but it is better than it was when it happened.

Location Port Charlotte, FL Name: SiDennis Year: 10/ 2006
In February of 2006 my wife woke up with itchy feet. We had somewhere to go that day so she didn't waste any time shoving her feet into socks and down into boots. We spent about 5 hours walking around a local indoor flea market until she began to really have trouble walking. Finally she told me her feet hurt from more than just new boots. We went home and when she took off her socks I was shocked to see 4 inch red raw abrasions on the tops of both her feet. My wife is half Blackfoot Indian and is renowned for refusing to go to the hospital, so she treated this at home, with peroxide and ammonia, bathing her feet constantly with physohex soap and squeezing what turned out to be a total of 5 bites on her feet and lower calves. These bites became more and more puss filled until finally after 2 weeks her feet looked like they had volcanoes of puss erupting from the tops of her arches. She finally agreed to go to the ER, where a DR told her that she had been bitten by a brown recluse spider and she now had a nasty staff infection. Our internist is also an infectious disease DR so we were referred to him and he put her on doxycycline, saying that she had been bitten by a brown spider, but that she was doing remarkably well and he didn't want to excise any tissue just yet. After 4 months of different antibiotics and wound cleansing my wife’s bites finally healed over, she now has red scars where the bites were but she is feeling no more pain from them. We think she either got really lucky, or her ethnic heritage helped her to fight the toxins. Either way we never want her to get bit again. I bought an electric spider chaser that gives off a high-pitched sound that chases spiders and we haven’t had a problem since (today is 10/10/06). Also I constantly spray and spread bags of spider poison all around our yard. We haven’t seen a spider in quite some time and we hope we never do again.

Location Washington DC Name: Siddiqah Year:07/ 2006
Last summer I was bitten three times by a brown recluse spider but I didn't know until the second time what the origin of the bite was. First I was bit on my right buttock and I thought it was a boil or a mosquito bite until it got larger and larger, the felt hard and tender to the touch. It got so bad I couldn’t wear form-fitting pants or comfortably sit. The doctor told me it was an abscess and she could either cut it open or treat it with antibiotics. I chose the latter and days latter puss oozed from my butt cheek continually. Then I was bit on my right leg and again I thought it was a mosquito bite until it stated to increase dramatically in size and a puss bubble began to form. My leg was so infected it grew twice its size and was so tight and stiff I couldn’t walk or even bend my legs. I had to use crutches for a week. Then a few days after my leg got better I was bit on my chest under my left breast. This time I knew exactly what it was and didn’t hesitate to get medical attention. The bite got so big and painful it prevented me from wearing a bra for almost a week. Turns out the spider had taken up residence in my bedroom and after I found it and killed it one day I never got bitten again. I am African American and have a milk chocolate complexion but every time I was bit my bites became reddish-pink and now I am left with very dark scars in some very unfortunate places. Does anyone know what I can do to reduce the appearance of my unflattering scars!!!!

Location Michigan Name: Kelli Year:06/ 2006
I live in the thumb of Michigan. Very remote areas with little amounts of people. My step-son and I were working on a farm on Saturday and pulling out an old wood fence. The wood was old and rotted with many spiders. My son asked what a brown recluse looked like because he was afraid of getting bit like his friend just down the road. I told him what I thought it looked like and he said that it was it then. I told him not to worry because they are so rare in Michigan. What are the chances of him getting bit after a friend just did weeks earlier? Not much since they are not "supposed" to be in Michigan. Tuesday my son came to me and asked if this "bite' looked normal. It looked like a mosquito bite that had been itched over and over again. I told him we would keep an eye on it. He went to his friends house, stayed the night and when he came back, the bite was getting bad but I was unsure what to do. Finally, Saturday I couldn't hold out anymore. We went to the E.R. because he was getting a weird dark mark under it and his whole arm was swollen and red. The E.R. sent him home with anti-biotics. Monday his bite was a pit surrounded by blue and red swollen tissue. There was a white/yellow/greenish "plug" of puss that would come out once in a while and leave a big gaping hole about a little over a 1/4 of an inch deep. I was worried. I took him back to a doctor and they put him on stronger antibiotics and said he had cellulitis? or cellulosis? (the bad swelling hardness and warm arm) The doctor said he doesn't think it is a brown recluse though because they do not go north of Indiana unless brought in a suitcase. Well, I don't know about all that but my step son visits Alabama a few times a year with a suit case and from what I read online, the brown recluse can live up to a year or so. I could swear that I saw one in my mailbox three times now also! So, is the brown recluse in Michigan??? Or is it possibly just living in my basement where my son's room happens to be???

Location Lincoln, Nebraska Name: Pamela Hill Year: 2006
I was bit by something while I was napping on May 2, and woke up itching my hand. It kept itching all night, but didn’t think anything of it. By Sunday morning at five am, my hand was swollen had red streaks all the way up “ oh, its just a bite”, and put me on antibiotics and sent me home. I know my body and knew something was wrong, but went home. Then around two pm on the same Sunday May 3, I went back to the emergency room. My hand was huge red swollen and painful, and turning dark colors. I was put on an IV with antibiotics. They said the bite was venomous, and must have come from a brown recluse. I have been to the wound center three times, and it’s healing slowly, but I have to have a skin graft soon. I can’t believe all this over a spider. This has been a very painful experience. I thought Sunday evening I was dying. I was groggy and could feel the poison go through my whole body.

Location South Carolina Name: Cristie Carson Year: 2006
Two years ago, I was sitting at my desk at work, when I felt an intense itching on one of the toes on my left foot. It was the toe next to the big toe. At any rate, the itching was extremely intense. By that evening it was getting red and swelling. It was also quite painful. I had no idea that I had been bitten by a brown recluse spider. By the time 2-3 days had gone by, it was turning purple and began to ooze. At that time, we had a bad ice storm and everything was basically shut down. I couldn't even get out if the parking lot of my apartment complex. By the fifth day, I was extremely ill. I had fever, chills, and my whole body was hurting. My foot and lower leg had swollen to three times the normal size. My toe was black and oozing, and the black area was spreading. I had taken a bottle of 50 ibuprofen in 3 days time. By that 5th day, my boyfriend came back into town from a business trip, took one look at me and said I needed to go to the emergency room. I didn't want to go there, so the next morning he drove me to the doctor. I was put in the hospital-the surgeon came by that night and said he would try to save my toe. I had surgery the next day. They were able to save my toe, by cutting out all the dead flesh. As my son put it, "I had a crater in my foot". I had whirlpool therapy every day, after which a nurse or physical therapist would pick away dead flesh. Also, they discovered that I had developed an infection called MRSA-and I was put on intravenous Vancamycin, plus taking Cipro orally. They said I probably picked up the infection by continuing to get out and go places after the after the bite had become so serious. I was trying to deny to myself that I actually had something seriously wrong. Anyway, I stayed in the hospital for 9 days, and was on intravenous Vancamycin for 6 weeks after getting out of the hospital. Plus still taking the Cipro. I had whirlpool therapy every single day as an outpatient for a solid month after leaving the hospital. A therapist would pick out the dead flesh after each treatment.

Location Shreveport , LA Name: Art Nerio Year: 2006
While on a news story at Fort Polk Louisiana I was bitten below the knee once by a brown recluse. The bite was tender within a few hours and noticed on a Friday Night as a pimple... with in 12hrs It felt like a small walnut on fire under my skin and was very painful and red. I got to a clinic as soon as possible and They were able to lance and clean the wound but the tissue damage was deep and after a couple days of trying to get the infection, it was decided surgery was needed to get the necropsy (dead tissue killed off by the poison)...the main reason I'm writing here is that I'm searching for answers about allergic reactions. It's been 2 yrs now and when I eat sour cream I break out and this all came about after the surgery, being sensitive to certain foods and I just wanted to see if the venom caused damage I wasn't aware of.

Location South Carolina Name: Lauren Year: 2005
I am a ballerina and usually have sore muscles. I woke up one morning and my calf muscle felt tight and extremely sore. Not knowing what bit me, I danced on it. About a week went by and it was just getting worse and my mom and I called the doctor and he told us to draw a circle around the redness to see if the swelling gets worse. Well, two days later it didn't change and we called again because I began feeling feverish and drowsy and very exhausted. My ankle was swollen as well as the muscles up my entire leg were very tender and the doctor said that was because that was where the venom had traveled. He had to squeeze the venom out because there was a pocket of puss/venom under my skin. He got about a tennis ball size of venom out of my leg and he told me just to let the rest of it ooze out on it's own. So for two weeks now it's been draining and when it dries out the scab is like a hole in my like, it isn't level with my skin. It's dark and black scabs but the soreness around it is not near as painful as it was before. So try not to be active when bitten and go see the doctor for antibiotics as well as to get the venom removed. Because before I went to the doctor my friend tried squeezing it, but it was too painful. I hope this helped someone, because being bitten was extremely painful, after the venom was removed, it was painful to walk and use my leg. This bite was the most painful thing I have ever experienced...beware brown recluses like dark, cool areas, such as closets or even in your bed under the sheets! So be careful cuz I got bit in bed!

Location Chicago, IL Name: Candice Year: 2005
I live in Chicago IL, and have always liked spiders to the point of keeping them as pets My husband was looking for a file he had misplaced, so I figured I'd help and started searching in our bedroom closet, which is more or less the"junk"closet, I mean there's clothes in there up to your knees or better, so I was digging around, moving things, and I never found what he was looking for. The next day my daughter noticed a quarter size open sore on my leg, just above the ankle. The skin was just peeling off. Everyone asked me if I burned myself. I told them don't you think I'd feel my leg burning over such a big area, so I put some Neosporin on it and tried to forget about it. But it kept getting worse and worse, the skin was deteriating, it was rock hard all the way around it, and red lines starting to branch out everywhere, oh, and very painful, I had told my son about it and he told me to go to the doctor, but I ended up rescheduling because I felt sick. my son called and asked what did the doctor say, when I told him I rescheduled ,and couldn't go for 2 more days, cause the doctor was off the next day. He got pretty angry with me, and threatened not to speak to me until I had seen the doctor, whom he knew, that would defiantly make me go! ha ,,and I am so glad he did,,,because I was bitten by a brown recluse and could have died if I kept putting seeing the doctor off! my leg still looks just like the picture on the site,,,and its about in the same place little above the ankle,,,my doctor said it was either a brown recluse or a scorpion,,,umm,and scorpions dont live in closets in Chicago,lol,,so I was prescribed[cephalexin]500 mg capsules, to take 4 x a day,,,60 of them,,,and have to refill and keep taking them and also a topical cream to apply twice a day called [silver sulfadiazine]1%cream..Its still hard and not healed but I thank god I have a son that cares enough to threaten me to go seek help, because I probably wouldn't have, or been to late! so if this happens to you....GO TO THE DOCTOR!

Location Mississippi Name: Charlotte Year: 2005
I have been bitten six times two of them have hospitalized me. I have a three inch scare on my back from the first bit and Ihave a big whole in my stomach right under my right breast. I stayed in the hospital four days with the first bit and stayed three days with the sixth bit four of the bites the medicine took care of them. I had three bites when I went in the hospital last November and Ihad two bites this november. What can I do about them. They don't bite no one but me. Thank You, Charlotte (cltibbit1963@yahoo.com)

Location San Bernardino, CA Name: Dawn Marie Year: 2005
It was 4 years ago that I got bit. I was living in Highland, Ca. I had cleaned out an old traile,r getting it ready to go camping with my kids. I felt the spider bite me on the back of my knee. I just thought it was a regular spider or insect bite. The next day I woke up and my leg was swollen and really red and hard. I had lots of puss coming out of the bite, some blood and the more I squeezed it the further the infection seemed to spread. I went to my friends grandma who was a Indian and she lanced it for me. That relieved the swelling. I have a permanant scar where the recluse bit me and I still have some discomfort and numbness on the back of my knee.

Location Michigan Name: Jennifer Year: 2005
I have now been biten for the third time. All my bites have happened in the same spot within two inches or so of each other. The first two times happened within a couple of months of each other when I had no insurance. Now this week I woke up with another bite but thankfully I have insurance now. It's very frustrating that I keep getting bit and in the same spot. I just want to be done with it but every bite my immune system weakens and I'm getting different sicknesses from it.

Location Georgia Name: Jana Year: 2005
I got bit on the my left inner thigh and it grew so big that I could not walk. I was in so much pain. I even tried to burst it myself by sticking a pin in it and it caused me too much pain I couldn't get anything out of it. I waited like 3 days until it was so hard and red and black in the middle that I said I'm goin' to the Dr. So I went and they did surgery immediately. I don't know what they did--I know they scalped it and I guess got everything out of it and there was a big hole left there. I had to stay over night to make sure there wasn't any complications and I was put on home bound from school for two weeks. The Dr. said I was bitten by a brown recluse...whether it was or not..I don't know but that's what she told me.

Location Oklahoma City Name: Gloria Year: 2005
In August of this year my 19yr old daughter called and said something bit her 2x on her stomach, 1x on her waist, and 1x under her under arm. I told her to put some neosporin on it and keep an eye on it. Three days passed and she had developed a black hard spot in the middle of each bite. She said the pain was worse than giving birth to her daughter. I went to look at them and told her I had never seen anything like this and that she needed to go to the emergency room. In the meantime I called my dad and he told me to get a towel, hold it under running hot water and to have her test it to see how hot she could handle it and then to place it on the bites. I'm going to say no more than a minute later all the bites had popped open and alot of the pus had came out of each one of them. The smell was terrible. My dad said to continue doing this until the bite stopped uzing stuff out. My daughter had been having alot of pain on her left side of the body and she said she could not feel anything, she was numb from her left side. I think we took care of right on time. We still took her to the emergency room and they prescribed an antibiotic.

Location: Port Clinton, Ohio Name:Joe Goetz Year: 9/2005
I have a friend named Pam. she said her niece has recently been bitten by a brown recluse spider on her buttocks. Pam told me that three days later, her skin on her buttocks was completely black, and then the skin had fallen off creating a HUGE gaping hole! The doctors have her on all sorts of antibiotics, and thankfully they are working. I live on the tip of Ohio, and I just killed on of these things last night. I was taking my air conditioner out of my window, and out of the corner of my eye, this big huge brown spider RACES out of the window, and into my house. Luckily we killed it now that I know what it is. And now I'm petrified because now they are everywhere! I live in the tip of Ohio, and that tells me that these things are spreading very rapidly!

Location: Webster, SD Name: Susan Year: 9/2005
Within 2 hours my 10 month old puppy developed gagging breathing, very lethargic, didn't want to walk and a warm lump on his side. I called the vet and she felt it was a spider bite and recommended Benadryl. The next day he was 75 % better but still had the lump. The following day he improved. The third day the lump went from firm to bigger and fluidy. We went to the vet and she put him on steroids. That afternoon he slept for hours. When I lay by him he was radiating heat and had a slight odor to him. We took him out to go to the bathroom and when he got outside the lump started to ooze red fluid. It was an awful sight. When we took him to the vet the next day she was shocked. If she hadn't seen him the day b4 she wouldn't have thought this happen only last night. He now has a wound on his side the size of the diameter of a regular coffee mug. He is now also on antibiotics - both oral and topical. Because of the amount of skin and tissue damage my vet feels it was a brown recluse.

Location: not given Name: Cheryl Year: 9/2005
I went out to get wood off our woodpile so I could a fire because it rained last Friday. The next morning I woke up to find a bite on my stomach. It had a black dot in the middle. I called the doctor, and his nurse said to put a hot compress on it and try and get it to drain and I did because it was tender and swollen and the size now, of a orange, red purple color. I drained it 6 or 7 times over the next few days. And called the doctor back before the weekend and they prescribed Cephalexin 250mg by mouth 4 times daily. It's an antibiotic. Tonight 10 days after the bite, I looked up at the ceiling like I have every niter before bed... I have to find this thing or it will keep biting me. And I have a baby in the room. There it was tonight. A brown recluse. Just as I suspected. I have it in a zip lock bag and a Jar to show the doc.

Location: Kentucky Name: Brandi Year: 9/2005
My son, uncle, and I have been bitten by what we think is a brown recluse. I was bitten first 3 days ago. It has tripled in size, very large and very red. The pain is terrible, to the point I can hardly walk. The sore feels warm like it has heat in it. We thought it was a boil, until everyone else ended up with one. My uncle has two on his side. My son has one on his arm and was bite again tonight on his upper leg. He is only 2 so there is not much he can tell me; I know they hurt him though. All of the bites look just alike, and have all occurred within a 3-day span. They start as a small red place, when you feel it; it feels like they have a knot under them. They have a small pin size black dot in the middle of them. It seems like they double in size every day. Each day the black dot gets bigger. When you look closely at them they also look almost bruised (purple). My son and I went to the emergency room last night; they don't know what it is. The only thing they could tell me is that it is a bite. Like I didn't know that. They put my son and I on antibiotics, and gave me pain pills. The pain pills don't even kill the pain. I just want to know what this is. I am taking my son to a different doctor tomorrow. Please if you think you can tell me what you think this is let me know. My e-mail address is Breysty02@aol.com

Location: Fort Walton Beach, FL. Name: Megan Year: 2005
Hey everybody, I got bit by a spider about two weeks ago, I saw some spiders in the bathrooms under cabinets and other things near the floor and I didn't mind it at all, well the next day I had to go to an out of state field trip to Anderson Ville Georgia. When I came back I noticed a bite that looked like a mosquito bite and itched like crazy! So I tried to pop it and it hurt to much so I left it alone, well over the past few days it gotten worse and worse and started to swell up like a baseball and it was really hard at the middle and around the bite (on my leg) was really hard. I told my mom and she said that it would be ok. I'm 14 and I had a softball tournament that weekend and my coach kind of took care of it, and it popped with some medicine (I cant really spell it) Now it is still really tough in the middle and all the puss came out but I think that all the tissue is dead because I cant really feel any thing in it any more it hasn't gotten much better. So if any one has any information on what I got bite by I would really like to know.

Location: Oxford, MS Name: Lisa Year: 2005
I was bit by a brown recluse. At first I just had pain and thought it was an ingrown, hair, etc. After about 4 days it turned black and oozing. I felt like my back leg was paralized, I could barely walk. I had to have outpatient surgery and I still have not completed treatment in that I need a skin graph. That was in November, and I still suffer. It itches and still discharges. This is the worst experience I have ever gone through.

Location: Pascagoula, Ms Name: Fletcher Year: 2005
Doctor confirms my injury was from a brown recluse. Started 6/4/05. Symptoms were as described by many. Not realizing the seriousness and knowing what I was dealing with, I began treating my soreness. Three days after noticing discoloring to my right calf. By the time I realized I had a problem my injury was out of control. I was immediately admitted to a hospital under heavy sedation for 7 days. Surgery was performed on my right calf removing dead and decayed meat and calf muscle leaving a hole the size of a golf ball roughly 1 & 1/4 " deep. Was not able to walk for over a week after discharge. My local doctor helping with my rehab used an old doctor concoction. Mixed sugar and iodine until it was a thick as glue. Poured it into the hole twice daily. Within 4 days I was able to walk and within 2 weeks the hole begin closing to where it is just about a scar. I cannot describe my pain from this ordeal other than to say, this was the first time I shed tears from pain.

Location: Indiana Name: Angela Year: 2005
About three years ago, after taking a bath, my now 13 yr old son came to me complaining of his right shin hurting. I looked at it and had never seen anything looking like this did. The area around the bite was red, hot and swollen and around the center of the bite was what appeared to be a white circle. It really looked as if someone had taken a white highlighter and drew a perfect circle around the bite. I immediately went online and looked up spider bites. I found something that scared the crap out of me. It appeared to be a brown recluse bite from what I had found online. I kept my son home from school and took him to urgent care as soon as they opened at 1pm. The doctor proceeded to tell me there are NO brown recluses in Indiana. Yes he said it did look like a bite of some sort but could not be a brown recluse as there are none in our area. I told the doctor to just treat it as if it were. He gave my son a tetanus shot because I wasn't sure how long it had been since he had one and was not taking any chances and also gave him a high dose of antibiotics in the form of a shot. The doctor said, "Without the offending spider we cannot assume it was a brown recluse". GREAT! We had recently moved a lot of my son's fathers' belongings to our house because of a death. Three years later my son's shin looks like he has had a very bad burn. The area of scarring is about 6 inches long by probably 2 inches across. And that was catching and treating the bite within 12 to 18 hours. Would hate to think what might have happened had I dismissed the bite as something minor. No, I have no proof of what bit my son, but it wasn't a mosquito.

Location: Altamont, IL Name: Wren Year: ????
About three years ago, after taking a bath, my now 13 yr old son came to me complaining of his right shin hurting. I looked at it and had never seen anything looking like this did. The area around the bite was red, hot and swollen and around the center of the bite was what appeared to be a white circle. It really looked as if someone had taken a white highlighter and drew a perfect circle around the bite. I immediately went online and looked up spider bites. I found something that scared the crap out of me. It appeared to be a brown recluse bite from what I had found online. I kept my son home from school and took him to urgent care as soon as they opened at 1pm. The doctor proceeded to tell me there are NO brown recluses in Indiana. Yes he said it did look like a bite of some sort but could not be a brown recluse as there are none in our area. I told the doctor to just treat it as if it were. He gave my son a tetanus shot because I wasn't sure how long it had been since he had one and was not taking any chances and also gave him a high dose of antibiotics in the form of a shot. The doctor said, "Without the offending spider we cannot assume it was a brown recluse". GREAT! We had recently moved a lot of my son's fathers' belongings to our house because of a death. Three years later my son's shin looks like he has had a very bad burn. The area of scarring is about 6 inches long by probably 2 inches across. And that was catching and treating the bite within 12 to 18 hours. Would hate to think what might have happened had I dismissed the bite as something minor. No I have no proof of what bit my son but it wasn't a mosquito.

Location: Altamont, IL Name: Wren Year: ????
When my mom was 3, she was playing UNDER THE STAGE IN THE PARK with some other kids. When she went home, my grandma found several red lumps on her. She took my mom to the hospital, and they declared it was a brown recluse. Luckily, it must have been young, for the venom was not fully developed. DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN PLAY UNDER ANY BUILDINGS, STAGES, ETC.

Location: Morristown, TN Name: Margaret Year: 2005
I was bitten by a brown recluse July 3, 2005 between the toes. The spider was in a pair of shoes I had not worn for a several months. A doctor treated the wound with 750 mg Levaquin tablets and Alcortin antibiotic creme. The wound was open and the bone of one toe was visible. The top of my feet and both legs from ankle to knee was a reddish purple color. From the knees to just above hips my skin was covered with bumps the size of a pimple that itched very bad. After 3-4 weeks the wound got better. The doctor removed dead skin each week. I have had boils between the toes and the area is still not healed completely.

Location: Ohio Name: Wendlyn Year: 2005
I'm not entirely sure it was a hobo spider, as I live in Ohio - perhaps it was a brown recluse. But as fall approached our new house was suddenly infested with huge spiders that were NOT reclusive - when I swept, they would race fearlessly across the floor TOWARD me as if to attack! And the boxwood landscaping outside is full of large funnel webs. I'm going to purchase spider traps to try to identify these things. I didn't feel the bite, but about 20 days ago discovered a large lump at the top of my calf, just below the back of my knee. It showed the classic development, starting out like a gigantic insect bite but with the telltale deep inky-black hole in the center. My former husband was bitten on his chest by a brown recluse almost 30 years ago (still scarred, and says he can still feel it, sometimes). I met him years afterward and the boils were still pus-filled, so I tried piercing my bump with a sterilized needle to see if there was fluid in it. No fluid, but I discovered the bump itself was anesthetized - no feeling even when plunging the needle deep. I applied hydrogen peroxide, then antibiotic cream, and covered it with sterile gauze. The next morning it had festered up and burst, releasing quantities of thick pus and dark red blood. Again I applied hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic cream and sterile gauze. Soon a large blackish area spread out on my leg around the bump, and the bump itself turned hard and black and began to ache constantly. Because my father was having a health crisis of his own, I ignored it for almost a week. During this time I developed a severe migraine that lasted for almost six days, requiring constant medication. I've had migraines but it's rare for them to last more than one day. I also developed a low-grade fever, feeling hot and clammy especially in the evenings. But I didn't connect either of these symptoms with the bite. (As I said, I was distracted by another crisis.) Almost a week after the bump appeared, my whole leg started to ache, with pains down into my foot and up into my hip. I was also getting leg cramps and tingly feelings in the toes. I went online and discovered that the migraine and the fever were actually systemic bite symptoms, so went to the clinic. I saw a very young doctor just out of medical school, with no experience of spider bites. She brushed the whole thing off, glanced at it and proclaimed it to be just an inflamed cyst (even though the discoloration was necrotic black, not inflamed red), gave me no tests or treatments. She said all the other symptoms were unrelated. I started treating myself with natural remedies. I've been applying 8% arnica gel topically several times a day. The blackness on my leg quickly faded to red and the edges are rapidly receding. (Note: It wasn't infected - I don't think arnica would be advisable for infected skin.) The hard bump is still there, however, and the black center has become visible again now that it's not black all over. I'm also taking large amounts of milk thistle to promote new liver cell growth to help process the systemic toxin. European studies have shown that even people who eat deadly mushrooms can survive if they take massive doses of milk thistle to strengthen the liver, so I reasoned that it might help. I'm also taking a wide variety of immune-boosting supplements. However, I've read and been told that after a latent period the toxins can cause organ damage and even affect the brain, so I'm pretty terrified. Stories here about shingles and lupus seem to bear this out. Even though the wound itself appears to be slowly improving, what's happening with the internal toxins? I can't find any solid information on this. If you know anything, please email me at wynalter@sbcglobal.net.

Location: San Angelo, TX Name: A.R. Elliott Year: 2005 (1975)
I was bitten on the ankle in Ft Worth, TX back in 1975. I have had an open wound on my leg for some 30 yrs. This thing has messed up my leg and has been screwing with my life and my mind. Makes you in an almost constant sense of stress due to the pain and the physical limits. I have noticed in the last few years it has gotten more painful as time goes on. I was looking to see if there have been any new discoveries on how to heal this. If any one wants to know more about my bite just E-mail me and I will be glad to tell you all I know about it. (ae030754@yahoo.com)

Location: Morristown, TN Name: Margaret Year: 8/2005
I was bitten by a brown recluse July 3, 2005 between the toes. The spider was in a pair of shoes I had not worn for a several months. The wound was treated by a doctor with 750 mg Levaquin tablets and Alcortin antibiotic creme. The wound was open and the bone of one toe was visible. The top of my feet and both legs from ankle to knee was a reddish purple color. From the knees to just above hips my skin was covered with bumps the size of a pimple that itched very bad. After 3-4 weeks the wound got better. The doctor removed dead skin each week. I have had boils between the toes and the area is still not healed completely.

Location: DURANGO, CO Name: CAROLYN Year: 8/2005
My cat recently was bitten by a brown recluse spider we believe, on her face. It started to swell at first and had a small section under her ear that was red and when you pushed on it it was filled with something. I took her to the vet and he had never seen anything like it. She had a 103 temp. He went in and did some skin grafts and sent her home, the next day she was back in there with a 104 temp and the swelling had gotten worse. He had to remove almost all her left side of her face. She currently has a bandage on, since it is all a open wound. This makes me even more scared of spiders and knowing that they are around my house now I am even more afraid for my two small children. I am going to try the spider traps. I hope my cat recovers from this. It has cost me over $300 so far and she has gone through 3 skin graft surgeries so far.

Location: Not Given Name: Kelly Year: 8/2005
I have been bitten twice- 2 TIMES- within the last month and half. My first bite I didnt seek medical attention immediatley since I was not completely SURE this was a spider bite. After suffering with the pain for about a week, i called the urgent care at a local hospital and was advised i needed to be seen. I was told that more than likely it was a spider bite, but without the actual spider there was no way to prove it was a BROWN RECLUSE! Since the first bite we have moved from one state to another and guess who we moved with us? Yes exactly, now I have been bitten again. I knew what it was and went directly to the doctor; i was given meds and meds for pain. You could never imagine the pain a little spider like that could cause. I mean this really hurts; it hurts to walk, joints ache, I feel nausea, I did actually vomit, so dont think it is the stomach bug or flu from your aches and pains. I can not explain to anyone the urgency in exterminating these "creatures"!!!I have taken steps in getten a first aide kit for Brown Recluse bites and 30 glue traps for this horrible pain cause night crawling useless creatures. I would not wish the pain Iam suffering on any one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Location: Norman, AR Name: Jennifer Year: 7/2005
My little sister is 9 years old. Today I went to visit her and she told me she was bit on her back twice by a spider over the weekend. I got to looking at the bites and one was very tender, red and had a hard lump under it, It also looked like there was a bubble of pus right on the surface. So I told her to let me poke it with a needle and she did. Me and my mother squeezed it and a lot of pus came out. Later, it still hadn't gone down any, So we held her down and popped it again. I have never seen so much pus come out of something in my life. It started bleeding, so we left it alone. Later the wound was ever harder from us squeezing it. It oozed for a long time until a scab formed over it. I figure by in the morning there will be more puss because the scab is holding it in and it is not able to ooze. I anyone has any more info. please e-mail me. Jaen323@yahoo.com. Thank You.

Location: Denver ,CO Name: not given Year: 7/2005
A good friend of the family's nephew just died from a Brown Recluse spider bite. He worked for a moving company. He was moving a piano for a customer when he was bit 3X. He lived one week after the bites. All his organs shut down. Please pray for the family. He was only 33 years old.

Location: Apollo Beach, Florida Name: Ashley Year: 2005
I am a 33 yr old Female that was bitten 3 times once on the R foot and twice on the L foot This happened mid August 2004 I had advised my "landlord/appt mgr" 2 days prior he laughed at me told me to buy some bug spray. I first saw a larger light brown Recluse on the wall in the bedroom, it turned around when I went to kill it I though it was going to jump on me. So I refused to sleep in the bedroom, 2 nights later I woke up around 5am with a smaller dark brown recluse on my knee, to also find what looked like blisters? That within 24 hours were open wounds I immediately went to the hospital I was there for 4 days on antibiotics that made me very sick. I went back into the hospital for 1 1/2 months this time. I had cellulites, osteomyolitus, and was placed on Vancomyacin with a PICC line. And could not walk by now, I was very sick to the point of loosing my leg. I was then released from the hospital, went to a skilled nursing/physical rehabilitation unit. On the 5th day I started running a high fever 103-104 and had developed a rash a couple of day even prior to that. On the 6th day I was then rushed back to the hospital and they stopped the Vancomyacin, and tried about 8 other antibiotics I had a reaction to them all then the finally found that my body was accepting Doxycycline so another month in the hospital I finally get to go home on a pill medication and got the PICC line out. In about 2 days my body rejected this Rx. So I went to my doctor, and I had to be readmitted to have another PICC line put in and find another antibiotic there wasn't too many left to choose from. After 2 months of antibiotics all at one time Finally, I am now allergic to about 15 different Rx¹s, the bone is dying in both of my legs, I am partially confined to a wheelchair I can not work, I had to move back in with my parents and I have a 11 year old child that I can't take of the way I did, nor care for myself. I have now been diagnosed with RSD Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy is the reason my pain has not gone away.

Location: Oklahoma Name: Sharon Year: 2005
Please please please read this if you are suffering from a brown recluse spiderbite..........i was bitten twice on my stomach two yrs ago, i was suffering, sick, full of puss and deep holes were forming on my belly... A old man at the doctors office was sitting next to me and asked me if he could help me..he could heal me...at fist i thought he was nuts...but when he told me what he could do..i figured why not! The doctors were not really helping me heal this and i was in bad pain...so i went to the man's house and he took the wire from a motorcycle, stripped the ends to where the metal showed on both ends, wrapped one end of the bare wire around a motorcycle battery, the other he held in his hand...he was preparing to shock me he said, i thought he was for sure off his rocker, but he assured me this would work, so he then started the motorcycle, i grounded my leg up next to the motorcycle, placed my calf on a metal part of the motorcycle, and then the man took the other end of the stripped wire and touched it upon my stomach where the bites were, went in circles around each bite, shocking each time he went, and no it didnt really hurt, but after about 2 times around each bite, he told me to go on home...the next morning, i woke up and the holes were goooone!!!!!!!!!!! The bites had dried up and dead skin was flaking off.....please please try this with a lawn mower or even a police stun gun if you are suffering from spider bites, i promise you...you will not regret the few minutes of being shocked to save you a lifetime of pain and scars.....i swear this is true!!!!

Location: FORT LAUDERDALE, FL Name: DANIEL Year: 2005
My German Shepard got bitten by a wolf spider, which wasn’t identified until I found three dead ones in my apartment, but the wound on my dog is identical of that from a recluse spider. What can I do, she’s on antibiotics and I clean the wound twice daily with hydrogen peroxide by directions of the vet. Please send your recommendations..

Location: SE Florida Name: Monroe Year: 2005
My mom got bit by a recluse on her behind. we just moved from south tx and brought a recluse with us. the bite didnt start to get bad until the third day. prior to that she had received tingling sensations in her legs with pain. my father and i were getting the puss out and the blood and whitish-yellow ooze came pouring out. we realized the danger and did the best we could to stop it. the area around the bite was hard and tender to the touch from my mom's side. we took her to the hospital and they cut her open and saw pockets of infection. the doctors diagnosed it as an abcess, but we know what really happened. we just had a follow up today and doing fine now. as of 1/24/05

Location: South Carolina Name: Sharon Year: 2005
A couple month's ago . He put his shose's one morning when he was bite . HE had a burnning feel that went all the way up from the bite on his big toe up to the back of his head & into to his shoulder. The toe got real red & puss came out next. About -3- week's later , all the skin started dying & falling off . New skin retured . He still has a great deal off pain . He favor's that side bad ... We don't have INS.so he never saw a DR. we kept the bite clean & neosprin on it my concern is has the bite left a lasting problem ??

Location: St. Petersburg, FL Name: David Year: 2005
I was under my deck trying to close up a small space were cats were getting under my house. I didn't even know when I was bitten. I had three bites,one on my right arm,on top of my for arm,two bites on my left knee,and one on my face, that wasn't that bad,just a hard lump. the one on my arm was the worst,it was the biggest and had the most damage.Then my knee.Maybe it was the same spider,and his venom was running out after all those bites? I was a mess for two weeks.The two on my knee caused me to go to the ER,the inside of my left leg got red,from my ankle all the way up to the inside of my thigh,I went in and they put me on IV's for a couple of hours. Then two weeks later my son was bitten on his left thigh.It raised up and got bad for a couple of weeks.

Location: Michigan Name: Amanda Year: 2005
I too, think that the population of the Brown Recluse is growing more than anyone knows. I live in Michigan and my dad's PCP checked out a spider bite. He was bit once, with little prolem, except the swelling of his face and numbness. He was bit again, the second time was much worse, his eye filled with fluid, was bruised and his face was numb again. His doctor told him that a Brown Recluse Spider was the cause, and that they are attracted to moisture and that the spider may have been attracted to his eyes. They told him if he gets bit again, it could be fatal. There are no stores near us that we can buy "BIG H TRAPS" near us, and was wondering if there is any other trap that would work efficiently? Any spide trap, maybe? Thanks!

Location: Atlanta, GA Name: Kathyren Year: 2005
I used to live in a house on Mason Turner Road in Atlanta. The house had lots of spider webs all over the place. I cleaned as many as possible, but I think that they came from the basement. I was lying on the couch one day when I felt a little sting. It felt like a mosquito bite. I put alcohol on the bite but it didn't go away. By the second day it had swollen so big I couldn't walk. It had bitten me right between the back and upper buttock. My son called 911 and they sent the fire department that informed me that I had been bitten by a brown recluse and had very little time and that if I waited more than 12 hours the poison could reach my spine and I would be paralyzed for the rest of my life or could die. I was immediately rushed to the hospital, where the bite was cut open and the poison removed. It was white venom. I thank the Lord to be living. I had never heard of a brown recluse before, the thought and pictures send chills up and down my body. I still have muscle spasms

Location:SanAntonio, TX Name: Audrey Year: 2005
I was bitten by this spider, back in 1985 and the picture is exactly as my leg was then. my skin got rinklled as if I was 100 years old. I got sleepy and sleaped for 14 hours. One more hour later I would have died. the doctor said. The would grew into a big bubble of posion while on antibotic, until it busted. then my flesh begin to fell out of my leg. Leaving a big whole. The doctor clean all of the poison and green meat out of my leg and I did a skin draft. But as of today , my leg still hurts sometimes and when I walk my leg falls from under me and i fall to the ground. it takes about sometimes an hour before I can walk again. I wish I knew why this is still painful. But I beleive it is because I was one inch from having to have my leg cut off, and the nerves are still slightly damaged.

Location: Pennsylvania Name: Christina Year: 2005
I woke up on a Monday morning with a mark on my hand I didn’t know what it was, I thought I was bitten by a mosquito, but if anything touched my hand it caused pain which doesn’t happen to mosquito bites. The next morning one of my then room mates had the same mark on his arm and he told me that he was bitten by a spider the night before and he had killed it (GOOD!). That night my bite looked like I could just pop it so I did, HUGE mistake. My right hand swelled all the way to my elbow. Then by the following Friday my eye brow, eye lid and below my eye was swollen so bad I went to the E.R around noon and the Dr. told me I have MRSA (a very bad bacterium, which resulted in several staff infections in my body) by opening the wound in my hand I caught the bacterium and spread it to my left eye, by simply trying to pop a pimple. He prescribed me an antibiotic and removed one abscess, caused by MRSA and sent me home. I had to go back to the ER, the following Sunday just for a check up. When I went back the next Sunday I had a temperature of 101.1, I was then admitted to the hospital where I stayed from December 26 until January 1. I had three staff infections lanced and my hand now has a whole in the middle (I could probably fit three peas in the whole). Everyday I have to change to bandage and repack (which is when I put gauze in the whole so the outside does not heal before the inside, which could cause another infection) my wound. If I would never have been bitten by the spider I would never have gone threw any of this. I will never trap a spider, if I see one it is dead!

Location: Whitewater, Wisconsin Name: Ian Year: 2005
We have had this scary looking funnel web by our front door. Every time I walk by there I can't help but look at it. It kind of looks like a tunnel leading behind a dresser. Anyway, about 3 months ago (Nov. 2004) my mom was complaining of nausea and severe stomach pains. It was okay, until she said they were really getting bad. Eventually we called her into the hospital, and after a couple of weeks on Vicadin, it disapeared just as soon as it began. I am still unsure of what to do about the spider, out of fear of being bitten myself. This sounds like a big problem, and people better start reacting to these things before it's to late.

Location: Texas Name: Teresa Year: 2004
We have these pests all the time. We have an ointment that works fast. I have been bitten several times. This ointment is called Ichthammol. It is very smelly (smells like tar), but works within minutes to kill the pain. Within 5 to 7 days the poison is completely drawn out and leaves no scars. It costs less than $3.00. Put it on the bite, cover with a bandaid, and leave it alone--except to change the bandage and drain it. After a few days a whitehead will appear. Don't squeeze it. Sterilize a needle and gently poke it to drain. Put peroxide on it and reapply ointment and bandaid. Repeat once a day until gone. This ointment can be found at most small pharmacies. Please pass this info on.

Location: Columbus, OH Name: Susan Year: 2004
December, 2004 my father in law was bitten by a Brown Recluse while unloading boxes from an attic space. He did not go for medical help right away, not knowing the potential of this toxin. He was hospitalized for three days, loaded up with IV antibiotics, but the bite venom continued to eat through the soft tissue on the back of his right leg. He had to continue antibiotic IV therapy at a wound clinic, yet the continued deterioration of his flesh caused a hole in his leg that is now the size of a hockey puck, and just as deep. Tissue around the bite has become dehydrated, circulatory problems have causing inability to bear weight on his leg. He now, January 12, 2004, has $40,000 in medical expenses as a result of this one bite, and may lose his lower leg. After reading the "don’t be fooled" article sent in by the entomologist from Riverside, I am definitely going to get a photo of the bite I describe. So don't you be fooled by an expert in the field - be very afraid of these spiders. There's no hoax about the photos here - I'll be sending one to this site that makes the current photos look like mosquito bites.

Location: NE Pennsylvania Name: Ami Year: 2004
Hi, I was reading your info and it is really informative. I just wanted to let you know that the area for the brown recluse is growning. My friend was bit last week in NE Pa and actually needs plastic surgery because of it. It bit her in the forehead in her sleep.

Location: Ft. Walton Beach, Florida Name: Angela Year: 2004
I woke up on a Wednesday morning with my legs/feet itching like crazy in 5 different spots. I thought maybe I had been bitten by a mosquito the night before but didn't remember swatting at any bugs so it was kind of weird to me. Then they started hurting bad. Painful to the touch even if my bed sheet touched them. By Thursday afternoon, all the spots where I had been bitten had measured to a swollen red area of 3 inches in diameter with a raised blister in the middle that looked like it would be pusy under it. The worst one was on my left foot on the inside ankle bone. I started having shooting pain up and down my leg and it was painful to walk. I started feeling really ill, dizzy, tired and nauseous. I made a Doctor's appt. that Thursday afternoon for the next day. By Friday, all the areas were worse. They were turning red and purple and were swollen so bad that you couldn't see my ankle bone and same with the other spots. They took my temperature at the Doctor's office and I was running a fever of 101 and was also having diarrhea. The Doctor confirmed all five spots are spider bites and probably Brown Recluse that I probably got that Tuesday night in bed, but they won't confirm that without the spider. Yeah, like I am going to try to catch it. If I see any spider, it's getting squashed! He put me on antibiotics and gave me Benadryl and Hydrocortisone cream for the itching. I've also been taking 1,000 mg of Vitamin C with Rose Hips every day and I think my allergy meds I take everyday have helped. They are still itching a little and appear to be getting some what better. I am a little freaked out by some of these pictures that I've seen. I am glad I got medical treatment within 72 hours. The WebMd site says not to pop the blister because you are going to invite infection and resist scratching to ward off skin infection and seek medical attention right away. It's only been 6 days since I got bit and 3 days on the antibiotics and the cramping has subsided and the swelling is going down a lit

Location: Lincoln, Nebraska Name: Jeanne Winter Year: 2004
My experience occured in the summer of 1999. I live in Lincoln, Ne. I don't remember getting the bite. I think the spider was hiding in my bed and I never saw it. Although I had seen in the house what I thought may of possibly been a couple Brown Recluses (I've never hear it called the Hobo Spider or Aggressive House spider.) I did get sick but didn't connect that it was spider bites till it progressed. I was weak and had fever and literally couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't even focus my eyes so it looked like I was looking through fog or something. I was very disoriented like I was very drugged.I noticed these bumps on my leg and I thought "great! I got bitten by a spider?" You could tell he was in my bed because it follows a pattern that he would of taken had I moved or rolled or something. I didn't connect it at all with how I was feeling. But it started itching like crazy! But at the same time it hurt. Then it went only to hurting. My legs began to swell and the soars got bigger and the entire area around them was swollen and bright red. What really got my attention was I checked it and it had developed black ugly looking soars which oozed puss around it and from underneath. I was afraid it was going gangrene or something! But during this time I was very sick and literally couldn't get out of bed. It hurt to walk, it hurt to even feel the slightest brush of a sheet on it. My daughter was about 12 that time and I had son who was 18 months old. She had to keep an eye on him and basically do most of the caring for him because I couldn't move. She was watching TV and wasn't watching him and he managed to get downstairs and out the front door and almost in the street when my neighbor caught him and brought him home. I remember trying to talk with her and not even really being aware of what was going on. The police were called and the house was a bit messy because I hadn't been able to clean it. And my son's diaper had not been changed for a while. They thought I was on drugs because I was so out of it. I didn't even know what they were saying. Thats when I checked into the hospital. Turned out I had severe diabetic reactions going on at the same time. But the soars I knew were spider bites. I kept telling them that and they seemed to want to call them diabetic ulcers which they were not. I was in the hospital about 4 days and then sent home. The soars had lost the black looking centers for the most part because they insisted on debreeding it. And they put this weird kind of dressings on it and I had to go to this wound care clinic for a long time to have them clean it out and bandage it again. It took a very long time to heal. And for a while it looked like they might not heal. The people were very worried cause all that seemed to be happening is I kept losing more and more flesh. I now have four very large scars on the back of my calves on one side and one big scar on the front shin on my other leg. No one believes me it was a spider bite and they think I was in this pyschosis or something. I might of been. I was not myself after that for a long time. Maybe a year or more. They are healed now. But because of these bites and because of the diabetis I am still trying to get my kids home and they always tried to use this against me. I can not convince them that this is a spider! Even though not long before I got bitten they had a very good article in the paper about this spider and how they were getting very common especially in older homes which mine was. Now this summer I'm afraid I'm getting more bites. I've had many and my legs are getting those soars on them. I bet I have about 10 bites. I was sweeping under the beds and furniture and I think I sturred them all up. Once again it seems like I am getting them at night when I'm sleeping. So I'm scared and watching how these are going to develop further. I hope they don't. I don't have the money to buy traps. I wish I did. All I know is this spider cost me dearly. I don't want to go through this again! And I am petrified of spiders in the first place!

Location: Floresville, Texas Name: Rochelle Year: 2004
My children visit their Dad and were getting some sort of boil. We live in the same city. My oldest son said they were spider bites. My daughter said they were painful. I recently received one and wondered if perhaps they brought one home in their suitcase, because none of us has gotten one since. Seems each one is a bit different. 1) some swell up like a boil and when popped puss comes out. Later they scab over and swell with a red circle around the area.. painful. 2) some have a stinger of some sort that is pulled out, later swells up like a boil, red painful circle 3) looks like a ant bite - pop the puss filled sac and it too swells with a painful red cirlcle. Mine was on my ankle and hurt when I walked. My children are giving me advice: Pop it daily and squeeze the pus out. It scabs over daily and I will pull the scab off - puss immediately oozes out and then stops. Since this treatment it has been healing. About a week ago I had flu like symptoms - threw up and had the shivers worse than I have ever had them.. I slept for about 4 hours and woke up with a sweat. I later felt better. My children have not had flu like symptoms- only swelled up like a boil and like mine --- seems to have a larger hole.. that scabs over. One child said the hole is very deep.

Location: Desert Hot Springs, CA Name:Steve Year: 2004
I was at work on Dec.12, 2003 when I began to feel ill. (I am a tilesetter). I drove home and felt like I had the flu.Hot/cold spells, severe diarhea, etc. By the time my girlfriend came home from work, I had a very high fever. She noticed a small mark on my right forearm(inside) but we thought little of it.By the next morning, there were purple lesions all over my forearm and my right hand was quite swollen. I was extremely weak and had to be helped into the car by a friend who lives close by. Arrived at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Ca. on Saturday morning. I checked in @ the E.R. desk and the next thing I knew, Iwas in a bed in the E.R. I had apparently gone into convulsions while in the wheelchair in the waiting area. I had extremely low blood pressure upon being admitted.After several hours, the surgeons operated on my forearm. They performed a radical de-bridement to remove the poisons and dead skin. They got into the fascia of the skin.Inthe process of a 39 day stay in the hospital, I received 49 units of blood and plasma. I lost over 40 pounds.The toxins in the spiders venom induced acute resperatory failure, acute renal failure(kidney dialysis for 3 days) and bone marrow suppression. Ireceived injections of PROCRIT while in the hospital and for weeks after I was released ,to help raise my red blood cell count. The area affected on my inner forearm was large enough, that I had to have a skin graft operation, using skin from my thigh.I wish to thank the skilled surgeons,doctors, nurses, my family and friends for getting me through this trying ordeal. Without them I would not be here today. I also think there should be more done to promote the dangers of this small but deadly insect. Many "professionals" are in denial of the actual "Brown Recluse" living in this area of So.Cal.What we have out here is the "Desert Recluse". Either way, it is a creature that the public should be more aware of.If I had waited 30 minutes more to go to the hospital, Iwas told I probably would not have survived

Location: South Carolina Name: Allyson and John Year: 2004
My fiancee and I have been getting bites for over a year now. We have moved since the bites started and it didn't help. We have been to several doctors and no one can seem to identify what is causing these bites. My mom went online and did a search because she thought they might be small scorpions that are bitting us, then she found the link to your website and looked at the pictures of the bites and read the stories. Then she called me and told me about the site, I got online and we nt ot your site and the bites and the stories sound identical. John has been bitten more and the bites have been worse than mine. He has had to have a few of them cut out. They are very painful when they start to get bigger and swell up. He had one on his leg just last week and his calf swelled 2 to 3 times the normal size. I am very glad to finally know what is bitting us because we haven't seen anything before we get bit. I am also glad to know what we can do to control these spiders. Thank you so much for this website. I did notice that there weren't any known and reported cases from the east coast but now there will be. Once again thank you for this website and finally answering jour question of what is bitting us.

Location: Cresson, PA Name: Barbie Year: 2004
Around the first part of April 04, I noticed a small circle on my son's right calf. I assumed it was grandulame Annular' a skin condition he had in previous years' so I didn't take him to the doctor and also we were due to leave on a cruise. I kind of shrugged it off and told him we'd take him to the dermotologist when we got home in 4 days. So we went on our cruise and everyday I applied cream that I had from the last time this condition broke out. All the while the spot seemed to get bigger! I was getting a little nervous and didn't enjoy our trip at all. As soon as we got home I got him to the dermotologist. He was diagnosed with eczema with a secondary infection on it. He was given bactrban cream and an antibiotic. And they scraped it for a culture. In ten days it only seemed worse' so I took him back and this time he was given fungal cream and pills. After 5 days it seemed even worse so I took him to our regular family doctor where he was told it was a brown recluse spider bite. I was scared to death because years ago a co worker went camping and weeks later she got an ulcerated sore that wouldnt heal and after months she finally went to the doctor and because she waited so long she lost the meaty part of her calf of her leg!!!!! My son was put on a powerful antibiotic and this coming monday he has to go back and if it isn't improved we have to take him to the wound center in Altoona pa say a prayer for us!!!!! I'm assuming he got it at his dad's farm where he stays on the weekends so I'm going over there to claen the cellar and house extensively this weekend!!!!

Location: Delaware Name: Jacqui Year: 2004
I am currently recovering from my second Brown Recluse Spider bite. I was bitten back in 1978 here in DE on the side of my right leg. When I couldn't walk on that leg after what had felt like a mosquito bite 2 days before, I went to the doctor (ER, actually). When the doctors realized it was a brown recluse bite, they removed the dead tissue down to the bone and about the size of a cigarette. I had to have a drain in it which got changed daily at the hospital for a week. I still have a minor scar from that one. Apparently it had come in on some lumber delivered at work. I was just bitten again recently (again here in DE)in my home on April 4, 2004, this time just above my left ankle. I hardly noticed the bite, but on 4/6, when I got up in the am and couldn't stand on my left leg hardly, and it was very swollen and red in a 4-5" area,I went to the doctor that morning. I was put on antibiotics and told to use cold/ice packs. The area did get worse, with severe pain and swelling even down into my foot and up my leg. It formed a "pus-bubble" which the doctor drained on 4/8, and had a large, irregular area of necrosis around the bite site. Luckily, it has all stayed near the surface and the doctor assures me that I will not have a permanent scar. It is looking better every day, but I still have to keep it covered and the center is still an open crater on 4/22. It was hard to convince the doctors that this really was a brown recluse bite because they are not in this area (I am proof otherwise)however, I took 2 trips to the southwest (NM and AZ) this past summer. I may have had a hitch-hiker! I recently did a bedroom makeover and must have disturbed him and he was looking for another spot to hang out!

Location: Redondo Beach, CA Name: Jesse Year: 2004
I went to visit my mom and brother and my mom told me my brother had developed some kind of skin cancer. I was like totally weirded out when I saw it. It was on his buttox. He showed me other scars left after this happened before on his chest and inner leg the size of a dime. I'm wasnt 100% sure and told him go see the doctor. He did and sure enough, the doctor said it was a Brown Spider bite. My mom decided to take out all the furniture out of the house and I mean literally clean house ! No spider ever emerged, but since then, I've had my eyes open everywhere. I even get worried here at my own home every time I get an ich. The thought that a little spider like that can cause that much pain and trouble. Needless to say, I have never ever in my life seen anything like this. The bump as one described it, is the diameter of a soda can. Ouch that's really big. I honestly thought it nothing more than a red pimple with puss, and a big one at that, boy was I wrong. I have already referred my mom to this site to look into getting some traps. Personally, these little creature I think should be eradicated if not, controlled somehow. Just when someone thinks he's seen it all, something like this pops up. Totally incredible. We also discussed the posibility that my brother may have brought this little guy from Texas where he lived the past 3 years, but after reading some of the submissions people wrote, it seems these little buggers are everywhere.

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Name: Sue Year: 2004
I woke up after a nap and found an area like a mosquito bite on my side. I scratched it and tried to forget it. Later, I realized the bump was getting bigger and it had something like a stinger in the middle of it. For a minute I thought it was a flea. It was so irritating that I went to work and was asking everybody to look at it. I couldn't see it clearly, I had to strain my neck to see it.It was bothering me so much that I had to have someone here at work do something. The nurse put alcohol on it. An hour later I could not rest at my desk. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I got on my knees in my office chair because it seemed like my joints were aching so badly.About six o'clock in the morning, I went to emergency. My temp. was 101.2, so when the nurse in emergency told me that I knew that my temp. was higher during the night. By that time, in my skin, I had something as big as a grapefruit. Although on the outter surface it was nickel size. They gave me keflex and Ibuprofen and minutes later I felt better.The morning after, my gown was filled with puss and blood and It drained a day or so until it was better. I continued to clean the wound until it got better. A week later the same thing happened to my lower abdomen. Only this time, It was the size of an orange. I treated it the same way and it is now well. Just like the other person said, every now and then it lets me know that it was something there. I still have the scar and an itch periodically. Sue in Cincinnati

Location: Ohio Name:Tauni Year:2004
It was New Year's Eve when my family thought I got bit. My dad was bringing in fire wood to have a fire. I was laying on he couch. January 2, 2004, at school the back of my knee was hurting and itching at the same time. Later that night my grandma was taking me to the movies and I told her my leg hurt. We thought it was just irritation. On Tuesday me and my mom went to get our allergy shots and she told the lady that gives us our shots about my leg and she didn't know what it was. So she took me to the doctor. She said I got bite by a Brown Recluse Spider but my mom and I didn't know what that was. So we looked on the Internet. It was wicked. The doctor gave me antibiotics. I am still taking them on January 19, 2004. Every day it just kept getting bigger, more painful, and it itched like crazy. My mom put damosal on it. We set out traps. We still haven't caught the spider. It looks so much better now. It still itches, but I think I'll be O.K

Location: Sarasota, Florida Name: Maya Year: 2004
Hello there! I was so glad to see that I am not the only one that feels deformed now because I also got bit by a brown recluse.It started about 5 days ago when I noticed a pimple like redness on my lower back right where my spine ends. I tried picking at it and nothing was happening. Then, a day or two later it started swelling up and it looked like a HUGE red bump with a black dot in the middle. I showed people at work and they told me it could be a spider bite. I had never been bitten by a spider before but it was really scary to look at! I showed my other coworker and she was shocked by the size of it and told me that I should see a doctor. So I did and that is when he told me that I had been bitten by a brown recluse.I was frightened and scared since I was in so much pain, I couldn't even move or anything. I have been on antibiotics since and using a black tar-like cream to try to remove the poison out of my body. On the other hand, my boyfriend, whom I live with, has also been bit by this spider. He has gotten bit 5 TIMES. You will have to sit down for this one but one of his bites is on his PRIVATE PART!!! He was very scared as well and now the doctor put him on 1000 mg of Keflex to fight off the infection. We live in Florida and it is the most horrible and most painful experience ever. We both are still on antibiotics and trying to get better.

Location: North Carolina Name: Cindi Year: 2003
I live in North Carolina but was biten in Charston, WV during a vaction trip. I have been released from the doctor but have to keep the triamcinolone acetonide cream on it for a week or so longer then switch over to Mederma cream to help the scaring. I have a fit every time I see a spider now, I am very careful about what I do outside or even in my home. We live near the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, but like I said I was visiting in WV when I was biten, we were way up in the coal mine community. Beautify land but don't know if I want to visit any more. Thanks for the web site you have. People need to be warned of these litte critters. My spot has gone down to what looks liks a bad cigar burn down and is doing good. There will be no more scraping done on it.

Location: Los Gatos, California Name: Sherry Year: 2003
I was bit 2 times on a weekend while carpet was getting removed. It appeared like two mosquito bites and then everyday they got larger and larger.By Tuesday morning I got sick with what I thought I had was the flu. That night I was dizzy and very sick..still thought it was the flu. On Wednesday I stayed home from work with what I thought was the flu and my whole arm swelled up from these bites..I had blisters around the bite and it started to ooze..these were the ugliest bites I ever saw..I let it go on the weekend because it looked like the swelling started to down.It wasn't until Monday morning that I was told when I went to the doctor what had bit me..the doctor said I was very lucky I didn't get worst and why did it take me so long to get into the doctor..I thought it would go away..but it just changed the way it looked everyday...It is the most ugliest bite I ever saw..DO NOT MESS WITH THESE BITES...THEY ARE SERIOUS...I was lucky

Location: 29 Palms, California Name: Gerald Year: 2003
When I was in the Marine Corps training in 29 Palms California for a desert exercise the Staff Seargeant that I was working with woke up with a kneecap that was real swollen. After about four hours he could no longer take the pain. We had know idea that he had been bit by a Brown Recluse until later on that night after I had rushed him to the hospital on base three hours prior, in which by then his pain was unbearable and every time I hit a bump in the road in my HUMMWV (Hummer) truck he was almost in tears. I had no idea that a single spider bite could have that much effect on a person of good size.

Location: North Carolina Name: Lisa Year: 2003
A couple of months ago, I was traveling with my company on site visits in N. Carolina. I had never experienced anything like it. I thought that I was bit by a mosquito, and was scratching it a little. Well, it did swell up within a couple of weeks. It hurt, but not too bad. Then a month later I was traveling cross country, and it was inflamed, but again the swelling went down. It finally pealed a around the area, and looked like a bullseye on the site. Another month later the area swole so large and burst on its own leaving an dime size ulceration. I went to the Doctor immediately, and I am on Antibiotics for seven days, but am truly blessed to know that I am not the only one fighting this little critter.

Name: Isabella Year: 2003
In November 2003 I noticed a pimple (whitehead) on my arm. Three days later it was large and red and very painful. I went to my doctor who sent me to ER as the redness was and heat was spreading down my arm. In ER they lacerated the wound, removed the puss and put me on antibiotics as well as keeping me under serveillance for three days. I had to have IV antibiotics for the three days as and oral antibiotics for 10. Less than a month later I had the exact same lesion on my face. I now have to have this removed by a plastic surgeon as the treatment has left scar tissue. There is a red lump left where the bite was.

Location: Sacramento, California Name: Nishka Year: 2003
I live in Sacramento California and about three weeks ago I noticed a small mosquito-like bump on my arm which in about two days began to swell and became painful. It filled with puss and looked like a huge pimple, it also had a red area around it that felt really warm to the touch, the area around the bite felt hard. In about two more days the skin in the center (a little smaller than a dime in size) looked damaged (hard, dark red, wrinkled), also white little bubbles formed on it which broke open leaving just the big bump in the middle. At this point I went to the doctor and she lanced the bite and squeezed out all the puss. She also gave me antibiotics. (My arm is almost healed now). Then about two days after my doctor visit my husband got one of these lesions on his shin. The little white bubbles have popped but he still has the puss inside. He is on antibiotics and it seems like the lesion is getting better. All the swelling is gone and the red area has gotten a lot smaller. About three days into my husband's bite I got another one on my buttocks. I got on antibiotics again and the redness and swelling is gone. After the small bubbles popped I squeezed all the puss out of it. A scab formed but after washing it often and keeping it bandaged the scab softened and now there is an open wound about the size of a dime that doesn't seem to be healing. It's been like this for about a week now. My husband also got another one on his shin (about 10 inches below his last one) and my step daughter got one on the back of her thigh. After three weeks and five "bites" we still have not seen any type of bugs or spiders in the apartment.

Location: North Carolina Name: Cindii Year: 2003
I live in North Carolina but was biten in Charston, WV during a vaction trip. I have been released from the doctor but have to keep the triamcinolone acetonide cream on it for a week or so longer then switch over to Mederma cream to help the scaring. I have a fit every time I see a spider now. I am very careful about what I do outside or even in my home. We live near the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, but like I said I was visiting in WV when I was biten, we were way up in the coal mine community. Beautify land but don't know if I want to visit any more. Thanks for the web site you have. People need to be warned of these litte critters. My spot has gone down to what looks liks a bad cigar burn down and is doing good. There will be no more scraping done on it.

Location: Galveston, Texas Name: Rita Year: 2003
I apparently received a bite while in rehersal at a recording studio. I play drums and sit in a room with my back against a wall. That was on a Tuesday evening/late. By Wednesday morning, I thought I had received another mosiquito bite. It was on the left side of my neck, right on top of a filtration gland. By Thursday, it was swollen, red and very angry. My Husband said he thought it was either a large pimple, or a boil. By Friday, it was even larger and was beginning to be quite painful. By Saturday morning, it had reached the size of a golf ball and had a black hole approximately the size of a pencil eraser in the middle of the bite, and was oozing. My Doctor's office was open 1/2 a day on Saturday, so I went in. The Doctor on call treated the bite with 4000 mg of Augmentin.By Monday, my Left Jawbone, ear, shoulder, pectoral muscle, arm pit and entire arm was in severe pain, and the bite was even larger. I went immediately back to my regular Doctor. He indicated it WAS a brown recluse bite and gave me 2 different antibiotics and pain pills for the pain. I was in bed extremely ill for 2 days. I have completed my first 10 days on the antibiotics and the bite is getting better and smaller. I went in today for a re-check with my Dr. I am continuing another 10 days of antibiotics now. Thank you for your website.

Location: Name: Patty Year: 2003
My 19-year-old son was at work working in the gutters, a couple of days later he felt itching,then a pain with ant bite look on his right wrist/arm.This happened on a Sunday and Tuesday the pain was noticeable,Wednesday he started experiencing some swellling on his arm aroung the bite area, by thursday evening the pain got stronger and the swelling started spreading toward the hand, wrist, and arm.It was Friday when another doctor saw him. By this time the swelling had doubled you could not see the knuckles on the fingers and hand. We were sent to the ER immediately , He was given antibiotics and had two incisions punctured on his wrist, He then was admitted in the Hospital He was there from Friday to Monday it was very painful He went through X-rays, MRI, Blood work, and Painkillers were given to him.After being released I have to change the gauze twice a day until it healed completey hopefully not getting infected again. And is taking antibiotics for ten days. I never realized a spider could be so dangerous luckly the test results came out good so far no damages to the nerves and tissues or nor did it travel to the bone I personnally think the public should be aware of theses spiders only because there has been so many cases lately, I know this from hearing other stories at the hospital and at clinics I just didn't expect it to have happened in my family....

Location: Name: Patty Year: 2003
My 19-year-old son was at work working in the gutters, a couple of days later he felt itching,then a pain with ant bite look on his right wrist/arm.This happened on a Sunday and Tuesday the pain was noticeable,Wednesday he started experiencing some swellling on his arm aroung the bite area, by thursday evening the pain got stronger and the swelling started spreading toward the hand,wrist and arm.t was Friday when another doctor saw him. By this time the swelling had doubled you could not see the nuckles on the fingers and hand. we were sent to the ER immediately , He was given antibiotics and had two incisions punctured on his wrist, He then was admitted in the Hospital He was there from Friday to Monday it was very painful He went threw Xrays ,MRI, Blood work, Painkillers were given to him.fter being released I have to change he gauze twice a day until it healed completey hopefully not getting infected again.And is taking antibiotics for ten days. I never realized a spider could be so dangerous luckly the test results came out good so far no damages to the nerves and tissues or nor did it travel to the bone I personnally think the public should be aware of theses spiders only because there has been so many cases lately, I know this from hearing other stories at the hospital and at clinics I just did'nt expect it to have happened in my family....

Location: Oklahoma Name: Madge Year: 2002
The spider bite (got on June 24th) was still draining when we went to Mexico the 1st of November. Went to a plastic surgeon down there and he didn't want to operate on it and gave me a prescription for a spray that eventually pretty well dried it up. However, then around the end of December, I got a rash around it and went to another Dr. there and he thought it had infection in it. He squeezed a little pinhead size spot there and got a little yellow fluid out. He put me on antibiotics for a month and it finally cleared up. I'd say that was about 8 months after the bite. Anyhow, now, it still lets me know it is there sometimes. Guess it may stay that way.

Location: Oklahoma Name: Madge Year: 2002
The spider bite (got on June 24th) was still draining when we went to Mexico the 1st of Nov. Went to a plastic surgeon down there and he didn't want to operate on it and gave me a prescription for a spray that eventually pretty well dried it up. However, then around the end of Dec. I got a rash around it and went to another Dr. there and he thought it had infection in it. He squeezed a little pinhead size spot there and got a little yellow fluid out. He put me on antibiotics for a month and it finally cleared up. I'd say that was about 8 months after the bite. Anyhow, now, it still lets me know it is there sometimes. Guess it may stay that way.

Location: Jackson, Kentucky Name: Ann Year:1993
Email: wild2flower2000@yahoo.com
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider and didn't no it at the time. My ankle started to swell and hurt. Then a sore the size of a thumbnail was on my ankle.Over a period of six months the sore grew to the size of a soda can. I have never in life experienced so much pain. I was at the point of losing my mind. I went to six doctors before I came upon a doctor who saved my life. I had to spend two weeks in the hospital undergoing to surgerys and finally a skin graph. It has been seven years since the bite but I will never, never forget the pain. People just do not understand the damage a little thing like a spider can do.

Read what Dr. Kenneth Burton has to say about Recluse Spider Bites.

If you would like to share your experience with Hobo Spiders or Brown Recluse Spiders and/or their bites please email your story and any photos you wish to share to penni@belnap.com.

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Email Photos of Spider Bites - Are they Real?

Many people have been circulating a series of images showing a terrible bite with the skin deteriorating to the bone claiming the injury to be a brown recluse spider bite. An expert offers the following:

It is possible that the wound did result from a recluse bite. However, a number of aspects of this story are pretty suspicious, and have the classic symptoms of a hoax.

No one can seem to verify where the alleged bite occurred, whether a spider was caught in the act of biting or at the scene of the crime, whether the victim was tested for additional etiologic agents of necrosis such as bacterial infection, if a doctor actually made the diagnosis or it was a self-diagnosis from the victim, if the diagnosis came from an area of the country that actually has brown recluses, etc.

Some versions of this have included a picture of a spider that was supposed THE spider that caused the wound. Not so. It is a stock photo from an Ohio university website. This image was used last year in a very hyperbolic news story in Long Island.

The final summary on this is that if it indeed is a brown recluse bite, then it is truly one of the rare, horrific ones however, there is not sufficient information provided with this image to ascertain whether it is credible or not.

Rick Vetter Entomology Univ. Calif. Riverside Riverside, CA 92521

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Other Resources

Read what Dr. Kenneth Burton has to say.

Learn more about Brown Recluse Spiders:
eMedicine.com- Medical Information on Brown Recluse Spider Bites

Learn more about HoboSpiders:
HoboSpider.com

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