Brown Recluse Spider Bite - Analysis
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Comments: Unfortunately, the various captions accompanying these emailed images from inbox to inbox over the past several years don't include enough information to verify whether or not the festering wound was indeed caused by the bite of a brown recluse ("fiddleback") spider. The origin of the photos is unknown.
Whatever the cause, the wound itself appears to be real, and, though it's more extreme than other examples I have found during my research, does resemble necrotic ulcers symptomatic of brown recluse spider bites. They are also symptomatic of gangrene and necrotizing fasciitis, both of which can result from a brown recluse bite but both of which have other known causes as well, and can easily be mistaken for such a bite. Experts say misdiagnoses of the causes of necrotic ulcers are common.
Unlike the example above, the majority of brown recluse bites are "uneventful," doctors say, and rarely progress to such a serious stage.
Sources and further reading:
Brown Recluse Bite Symptoms
University of Nebraska Dept. of EntomologyBrown Recluse Spider
A.D.A.M. Healthcare EncyclopediaBrown Recluse Spider Bite on the Hand (Image)
A.D.A.M. Healthcare CenterFactsheet: Brown Recluse Spider
Ohio State UniversityConvenient Culprit: Myths Surround Brown Recluse Spider
American Medical News, 5 August 2002Myth of the Brown Recluse
By Rick Vetter, U.C. Riverside Dept. of Entomology
Last updated: 04/03/06
