A brown spider seems to have bitten the 48-year-old who had gone on vacation in Katakolo, Ilia, and finally lost the battle he was fighting to keep alive.
As the director of the surgical clinic of the Pyrgos Hospital, Angeliki Sarantopoulou, told the Star, the incidents do not have a good ending.
“Unfortunately, from the descriptions, we assume all this that it was a brown spider bite. Of course, there is no antidote and its development is generally quite rapid. While from the beginning it doesn’t seem like it’s anything serious, the patient doesn’t realize it when he bites them and in 72 hours he has a rapid deterioration. We were very shocked,” he said.
But what is the brown spider? What are the symptoms and possible complications if it bites us? The molecular biologist and geneticist Antonia Hairetaki gives all the answers in her earlier article.
What one should know about the brown recluse spider
Brown recluse spiders prefer warm climates, live mostly in the dark, and are usually found in piles of wood, leaves or rocks, where they can be protected.
Still it is quite possible to find her at home or on her porchsuch as inside shoes or piles of clothes that have been on the floor for a long time. These spiders appear mainly in North and East America.
The brown recluse spider has a distinctive dark, violin-shaped spot on its head, but this is not always easily distinguishable. Therefore, it is not easy to distinguish it from other brown spiders.
However, in any case where it is suspected that someone has been bitten by a brown recluse spider, they should be taken immediately to an emergency room at the nearest hospital, so that they can be provided with specialized medical help. Early treatment is especially important, especially for young children or the elderly, who experience more severe symptoms.
These spiders are not particularly aggressive and will not bite someone unless they are trapped in their skin, such as if found inside a worn garment. They usually hide during the day and come out at night to hunt insects.
Symptoms
Usually, when this spider bites someone it is not noticeable, and therefore it is possible for one to be bitten by it without realizing it, if one does not see it on one’s body.
Symptoms from spider venom usually appear after several hours. Initially, the person will likely feel pain, stinging or burning around the bite area, which will begin to turn red and may even form a small white blister. Other symptoms that may occur after being bitten include:
- Fever
- Nausea
- Shudder
- Intense tingling in the area of the bite
- Sweating
- More general malaise
- Creating rashes.
About, 12 to 36 hours after the bite a characteristic discoloration pattern will form in the area. The bite area it will take on a deep purple or blue color and a whitish ring will form around it, which is usually surrounded by an extensive red area.
Finally, in some cases the wound caused by the bite may persist and remain open for several weeks.
Treatment
What should someone do if they think they have been bitten by a brown recluse spider? If anyone thinks they may have been bitten by a brown recluse spider, they are advised to contact a doctor immediately and be taken to the nearest hospital. In addition, if possible it would be very helpful to catch the spider in a jar and give it to the doctor in order to identify its species and confirm the diagnosis as quickly as possible.
Finally, until someone reaches the doctor, the following steps can be followed to provide first aid to the person who has been bitten.
- Immediately wash the bite area with soap and water.
- Elevation of the area where the sting occurred.
- Applying a cold compress or ice to the bite site to reduce swelling and pain. Ice should be applied for 10 minutes, then a 10 minute break and reapplied for another 10 minutes.
To begin with, there is no recommended antidote for the venom of this particular spider. In most cases, the patient recovers on their own and simply rest, ice, and elevation of the bite area is recommended.
At the same time, a variety of medications can be used to treat skin complications due to the bite. However, none of them have been scientifically proven to be a reliable and effective treatment for all patients, against the bite of the brown recluse spider. The most commonly recommended medications include:
- Colchicine (Colcrys, Mitagare), a drug used to treat arthritis.
- Corticosteroids, which are widely used to fight inflammation.
- Dapsone, an antibiotic used to treat leprosy.
- Diphenhydramine (Benadryl), an antihistamine.
- Hyperbaric oxygen.
- Nitroglycerin, a substance used to treat heart disease.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, such as ibuprofen.
- Painkillers.
Finally, the doctor is likely to prescribe antibiotics in case the spider bite wound becomes infected.
How long is there a full recovery?
In most cases, as long as there are no complications, the person will recover quickly, without special symptoms and without the need for medication.
However, if skin problems develop due to the sting or other more serious complications it may take much longer. Usually, in case of skin irritation, e.g. formation of blisters or a wound in the area of the bite, it takes several weeks for the area to heal completely.
Complications
Can the bite of the brown recluse spider lead to death? As scary as it sounds to be bitten by a brown recluse spider, usually not dangerous for the health of the individual and heals itself, without the presence of complications.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to immediately seek medical help if bitten by such a spider, since in the event that complications occur, they are quite serious.
Specifically, complications are extremely rare and include: blood clotting disorders, kidney failure, coma or even death. These complications occur mainly in the elderly or young children.
Prevention
How can one avoid being bitten by a brown recluse spider?
Once these spiders are found inside a house or building, it is almost impossible to remove them all immediately. What can be done is to set up glue traps and use various insect repellents in order to reduce their numbers. At the same time, it is important to take some preventive measures by the person, in order to avoid being bitten by them. Such measures are:
- Cleaning and tidying up the yard and basement, and avoiding stacking wood too close to the house. In this way, the places where these spiders are used to living are reduced and the space now becomes more inhospitable for them.
- Avoid leaving clothes on the floor and if this happens they should be shaken out carefully before wearing again.
- Use gloves when moving wood or stones in the countryside, especially in areas where these spiders are common.
- Be careful when retrieving things from the basement, as spiders often live inside cardboard boxes.
- Checking the inside of the shoes, before they are worn.
- Store garden tools and other equipment in sealed plastic bags to prevent spiders from entering them.
#Brown #spider #Symptoms #complications #bitten
