22 Year Old Woman’s Ear Liquefies From Spider Bite

A 22 year old woman from the Netherlands recently discovered just how nasty some spider bites can be. In this case the bite, or more specifically the venom of that of a recluse spider.

These spiders are notoriously known for what their venom is capable of doing to the skin, muscle and bone around the bite. Thankfully they are not known for being aggressive and it is fairly rare that they will actually bite. Unlike other spider venoms, which normally attack the nervous system, the recluse’s venom starts to immediately destroy the tissue around the area of the infected skin. This is a process called necrosis, which is a form of cell injury where cells begin to prematurely die due to external factors such as toxins, infection or trauma.

 

 

The nasty result of necrosis is liquefied skin that is left looking blackened. The infected tissue often has to be surgically removed by cutting away the dead skin in order for the wound to heal. (See below photographs).

 

The concern here is that the destroyed tissue can easily lead to infection if the poison gets into the blood stream. The danger here is if this happens then the process of necrosis can spread to the blood itself and get transported throughout the entire body.

Thankfully we do not live in an area that the recluse call home and like mentioned earlier they are not typically aggressive spiders. The recluse usually live quite closely and peacefully around humans. Keep in mind that there are many other things that cause necrosis, even some insect bites and bacterial infections. Such bacterial infections have even been linked to hearing loss known as Sensorineural Hearing Loss. Sensorineural Hearing Loss is a hearing loss in the inner ear due to the failure of the auditory nerve.

To put your mind at ease though take a look at the map below where the recluse normally inhabit, and as you can see British Columbia is not within the range of where they typically dwell.

 

 

What does a recluse spider look like and how can you identify one? Some other spiders may look similar so be sure to take a glance at the photos and key identifiers listed below.
 

o   No spines on the legs, only fine hairs

o   Six eyes arranged in pairs, with one pair in front and a pair on either side.

o   Uniformly light-colored legs - no stripes, no bands

o   Recluses make small retreat webs behind   objects, never out in the open.

o   It is about 3/8 of an inch in body length.

o A dark violin shape on the cephalothorax.

o Uniformly coloured abdomen which can vary from cream to dark brown depending on what it has eaten, however, it will never have two colors of pigment at the same time.