Brown recluse spider is one of the poisonous spiders found largely in the United States. Having tiny structure measuring just 1-1.5 inches this spider has long legs and the entire body is brown in color. It has a dark pigment on its head and often lives on wood, leaves and rocks. They like to spend most of the time outdoors but when they get inside your house it will hide in the best places like dark closets, basements or attics. Generally these spiders do not harm us but when they are disturbed it would bite us.
Brown recluse spiders can be easily recognized by the presence of violin shaped pattern on cephalothoracic region. The neck portion of the violin pattern will be on the rear side of the insect. Most of these spiders will have 6-8 eyes. Often it is not possible to detect these spiders by naked eye since they are too small.
Venom :
Brown recluse spider carries venom on its sting. They are highly poisonous and contain more potent poison than a snake. But the effects of spider bite are less because it injects only meager amount of poison when they bite. This venom causes toxicity on the cells and tissues of the affected person.
The venom of the spider contains many enzymes and they will destroy the local cell membrane of the person once it bites him. This venom is capable of breaking up of tissues of skin and fat and even blood vessels. Finally the venom causes tissue death in the bitten area. Once the spider bites a person, the immune system will automatically release antihistamines and cytokines for fighting the tissue death. In severe cases this process of producing inflammatory agents by the immune system will cause injury to the cells producing side effects more than that of spider bite.
Initial symptoms :
The person will not notice any sign for few hours except a little sting on the area in which the spider has bitten. But after 4-6 hours, the place will start hurting more and more. The area looks like a bruise or blister and it becomes purple or bluish color which will gradually turn brown and becomes crusty within few days.
Symptoms :
There will be severe pain and swelling on the area. The blister formed on the area will have blur or brown color spot ringed by redness. It will discharge yellow or green colored pus. The affected area shows ulceration thus breaks in the mucous membrane of the skin. The color of the urine will be darker than usual. For some people there can be fever, chills, joint pain, nausea or vomiting after 4 hours.
Diagnoses :
Your doctor will look for the above symptoms and carefully examine the injured area. He might order for blood and urine test for making right analysis.
Treatment :
Once you know that you have been bitten by brown recluse spider, you have to clean the wound with soap water. Consult your doctor if you have severe symptoms and pain. You can apply ice on the injured area for reducing inflammation. Keep the injured area in elevated position so that poison from the area will not travel to the heart. You can apply compression bandage on the wound. Over the counter antihistamines can be taken to reduce itching and pain.
Your doctor will clean the wound and prescribe antivenom injection to fight the poison injected. Steroid injection is given to reduce swelling and pain. He can also give you Tetanus immunization and antibiotics for preventing bacterial infection on the wound.
You have to make follow up with your doctor for few days or until the wound is completely healed. Necrotic lesions or blisters will take enough time for healing. For some cases, the doctor will have to remove the dead tissue by surgery to preventing the infection to other areas.
Pictures of Brown Recluse Spider Bite :
Images, Pics, Pictures and Photos of Brown Recluse Spider Bite
Prevention :
Be careful when you find brown recluse spider in your garden since they will enter your house without your knowledge. Learn to recognize them and take precautions. Keep the closets and attics clean. Check your bed sheets before getting into the bed. Reduce piling up cluster things in garages and basements. Make sure that you are wearing long gloves when cleaning the closets and cupboards in winter season.