![]() ![]() Doctors may sometimes blame spider bites for other serious conditions that may also result in necrosis, such as an anthrax infection or even cancer, experts say. It is important to know whether the bites of these spiders can actually cause necrosis, researchers say. The patient had redness, swelling and skin ulceration, but these symptoms went away in a few days following treatment. However, later research showed that those bites were likely inflicted by brown recluse spiders, he said.īrown recluse spiders are one of the very few spider species whose bites can actually cause necrosis, although this happens only in extremely rare cases, Vetter said.Ī 2012 study published in the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine that examined a verified wolf-spider bite in a 20-year-old New York state resident, also found no evidence of skin necrosis. In the 1920s, a number of necrotic bites were attributed to wolf spiders in South America, and researchers even developed anti-venom for those bites, said Rick Vetter, an arachnologist, now retired from University of California, Riverside. The wolf spider has also been incriminated in necrosis cases, but experts have remained skeptical. There are more than 2,300 species of wolf spiders, and 200 of those species can be found in North America (including the United States). Their size ranges from a quarter of an inch to over an inch (6.4 millimeters to 3 centimeters) long. Wolf spiders are usually brown, gray, black or tan, with dark, stripelike markings and eyes arranged in three rows. The victim of the hobo-spider bite suffered only temporary pain, redness and muscle twitching. Recently, in a study published in April in the journal Toxicon, researchers examined a verified hobo-spider bite, and found no evidence of necrosis. Moreover, in Europe, hobo spiders are considered harmless, and previous research comparing the venom of American and European members of the species did not find significant differences between the two. However, other experts point out that those cases did not involve bites that were verified, and they refuse to accept them as evidence. According to a 1996 report published by the CDC, in some cases, hobo-spider bites have caused necrosis. The hobo spider is listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the three venomous spiders in the United States, along with black widow and brown recluse spiders. Pacific Northwest, are either brown or gray, and are moderately large, measuring about 0.25 to 0.5 inches (7 to 14 millimeters) in body length, with a 1- to 2-inch (27 to 45 mm) leg span. ![]() ![]() Hobo spiders, which can be found in the U.S. That person acted "with the aim of gaining publicity and being paid for their story by commercial media organizations," the researchers wrote in the study. Interestingly, one of the new study's authors had dealt with a case in which a person who claimed to have been bitten by a white-tailed spider eventually admitted the bite was faked, and the necrosis that occurred was self-inflicted, with a chemical called sodium hydroxide. The study added further evidence to the 135 previously documented, verified cases of white-tailed spider bites in which no necrosis was found, the researchers said. And, after following the patient for more than a month, the researchers found no sign of necrosis. "He told me he was scared to death, because on the Internet, there are statements still persisting that these cause necrotic arachnidism, and there is a good chance you'll need a skin graft" after a bite, Weinstein said.Ī few days after being bitten by a white-tailed spider, the man developed a rash, which disappeared after a couple of weeks. The 42-year-old male patient whose case is described in the new Toxicon study turned out to be one of those people. The white-tailed spider is a medium-size spider that owes its name to the off-white tip at the end of its abdomen, and is commonly found in homes in urban areas in Australia.Īlthough previous studies have shown no verified evidence of necrosis resulting from the bites of the white-tailed spider, many people are misled by information online not based on credible sources or research that says white-tailed spider bites can, indeed, kill human tissue. Growing evidence from such studies suggests these a few spiders stand wrongly accused of being able to cause necrosis, experts say. In general, the strongest evidence of the effects of spider bites comes from studies in which researchers looked only at cases of "verified spider bites," meaning patients actually caught the spiders that bit them and brought them to the researchers, who examined the bites and the spiders. ![]()
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