[grapeman]

For you southern people out there, does anyone have any experience with a brown recluse spider bit? This is a strange question from someone who lives near the Canadian border in Upstate NY. One of the boys got bitten by something yesterday like a spider bit. Within hours it had swollen up to about a quarter inch high raised area a couple inches across. His arm has a mottled greenish color around that area. By today, he was feeling sick so he laid down. When he got up two hours later the area had grown a lot to about 4 inches across and there is an oozing sore in the middle of it a half inch across. He and my son went to the Emergency Room, where they said they were greeted right away and a stream of doctors kept coming in to examine it. All three of them say it looks like the textbook pictures of the Brown Recluse. We have none around here which is the mystery. They are treating it as such and he has to go in daily to have it monitored for growth and furthe skin tissue death and loss. They have sent pictures and samples to the CDC.

He realized that two days ago just before he got bit, that somebody had brought two of his leather coats home from Florida for him and they were in the car. It looks like they had a stowaway on them from the south where they are native.

Do any of you guys from Florida or the other southern states have any experience with this?

[DirtyDawg10]

Yikes! Good luck...hope everything goes well.

[Brent2489]

Better get it taken care of!!!

http://www.brownreclusespider.org/

[Boatboy24]

No experience personally, but glad you got him to a doc. A brown recluse bite can be devastating. I ran across what I thought might be one last summer. Didn't waste any time confirming its identity - it died in a hurry. Not taking any chances with two little ones running around the yard.

[nursejohn]

The possibility of coming up from Florida in the coat sure sounds right to me. We do see those here in Texas. He did the right thing going to see a physician. If it is a brown recluse bite, he may be on antibiotics for a few days and he does need to watch the tissue closely to make sure that it doesn't start to become necrotic. Hope this all goes well. Keep us updated. I will surely put him in my prayers also, John.

[ibglowin]

Wow not good. Glad you got help fast as that is of utmost importance with those bites. Keep us posted Rich. Hope they can get it neutralized quickly.

[grapeman]

Yes he is on antibiotics already and it is slightly infected already. Weird things go on around our house!

[Runningwolf]

Thanks for the update Rich. I here people talk about them all the time and the rare possibility that they could be around here. It must be when they are transported in like you talked about.

[Deezil]

My dad had a brown recluse bite a few years back on his pinky finger.. He was out picking wild mushrooms and one was on the underside of the shroom and got him. Swelled up pretty good, like you mentioned... Lasted a few months, but eventually went back to normal with antibiotics.. Glad to hear its getting treated, thats the important part.

[winemaker_3352]

Yikes - I don't have experience with it - but they are common in MO those and Black Widows as well.

I have heard that if the bit doesn't get take care of soon enough most of the surronding tissue just dies.

I hope your friend turns out ok..