Spider Bite First Aid (Recluse Spiders, pg 3):

RECLUSE SPIDERS--The controversy (continued): The confusion factor is compounded by the superficial similarities between recluse spider bites and the necrotizing wounds caused by MRSA.

MRSA infected wounds present with the same bulls-eye pattern characteristic of recluse spider bites. This happens because both produce tissue death at the wound site. Other than that, however, the two are nothing alike. Studies of actual recluse spider bite cases indicate that the progression of the necrosis caused by a recluse spider bite is limited to the first 18-24 hours after the bite event, whereupon further necrosis ceases and the wound begins, albeit slowly, to heal. By contrast, the progression of MRSA necrosis continues for as long as the necrotizing microbe remains viable. Because MRSA resists traditional antibiotic regimens, the wounds it produces may become quite large before the necrotic agent, often in the form of a live, multidrug resistant strain of staphylococcus aureus, is brought under control.

So, how likely is a medical professional to misdiagnose a MRSA infection as a recluse spider bite? Pretty likely, according to the papers published by a number of researchers on the subject. G. B. Edwards, for example, published a study on this subject in 2001 which showed that, while doctors reported 96 recluse spider bites in the Tampa, Florida region in the year 2000, no brown recluse spiders have ever been collected in the Tampa area. Furthermore, no other spider whose bite is known to produce similar lesions has been found in that geographic area, either. This suggests that most, if not all, of these cases were in actuality MRSA or similar microbial infections, but because many, if not most, medical professionals treat suspected recluse spider bites with antibiotics, without first culturing the wounds to determine the microbial fauna populating the wound prior to treatment, it becomes practically impossible to pinpoint the primary cause of the wound later on. This kind of misdiagnosis and treatment procedure is not uncommon in other parts of the U.S. NEXT PAGE.  Page  1  *  2  *  3  *  4  *  5  *  6  *  7  *  8  * 

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