Treatment for bite of the brown recluse spider
Physicians at the University of Arkansas Medical Center, Little Rock, prefer the prompt administration of corticosteroids, stating, “Large doses given early may completely prevent the gangrenous response as well as the systemic reaction. The dosage schedule which we have found most effective is: 80 mg. of methylprednisolone (Deep-Medrol) intramuscularly immediately followed by one or two additional doses of same amount at 24-48 hour intervals. Subsequently, step wise decrease to 40, 20, 10 mg., every 24-48 hours, depending on the patient’s response, is carried out.”
Dr. Herbert L Stahnke, Director of the Arizona Poisonous Animals Research Laboratory, reports that an antivenin has been prepared in South America to control both the local and general symptoms from the bite of a closely related species of Loxosceles. He states, “locally there seems to be a favorable response to hydroxyzine, 100 mg. four times a day. I would say that cryotherapy, as we recommend it, would prevent all symptoms. I would recommend that the site of the bite be packed in crushed ice for 6 to 8 hours, after which the patient should be kept warm to the point of perspiration with the ice pack continuing for a total of 24 hours. In other words, treated like a pit viper bite, but over a much shorter period of time.” Avoid narcotics (morphine, demerol, dilaudid, codeine, etc.) since they enhance the systemic effects.
Although the brown recluse has not yet been reported in Arizona, it may be expected at any time, according to Dr. Mont A. Cazier, professor of zoology at Arizona State University at Tempe. In the meantime, studies are being made of the several close relatives of Loxosceles reclusa known to be present in the state. Among these is L. unicolor, first collected near Littlefield and Virgin Narrows in 1932. Equally poisonous with reclusa is the similar L. laeta, also found in Arizona. Other members of the genus, L. deserta and L. arizonica, have been known to live in Arizona and elsewhere in the Southwest for more than three decades, but no studies have been made of their venom. Dr. Willis J. Gertsch, world famous authority on spiders, believes that there may be as many as 20 species of Loxosceles in the Southwest. Several reports by persons who have been bitten by spiders describe reactions similar to those caused by the bite of the brown recluse.
According to Dr. Findley E. Russell, toxicology researcher of the University of Southern California Medical School, the “venom” injected by the brown spider is not really a toxin but a complete chemical that inhibits the normal action of infection-fighting antibodies in the human anatomy.
Tarantulas
(Avicularia sp.)
Known to naturalists as bird spiders, the large hairy members of the genera Avicularia, Dugesiella, and Aphonopelma of the arid Southwest are commonly called tarantulas.
Tarantula (Photo by Marvin H. Frost Sr.)
This name originated in southern Italy where, centuries ago, according to a story, in the little town of Tarantum (now Taranto) there developed an epidemic of “tarentism” supposedly resulting from the bite of a large wolf spider (Lycosa tarantula). Victims were affected with melancholy, stupor, and an irresistible desire to dance. Presumably, the Neapolitan folk dance, Tarentella, came about as a result of an effort to develop a cure for tarentism.
Early day immigrants brought to the western hemisphere both the unreasoning fear of spider bites and the name “tarantula,” which they applied to the large and fearsome-looking bird spider of the Southwest. Since that time this superstitious fear has become established among the uneducated and uninformed people of the southwestern United States, where the bird spiders are numerous.
It has been spread and aggravated by prolific writers of western thrillers, published in the pulp-paper magazines. Fantastic tales in which the big spiders followed their victims, sprang upon them from distances of from 6 to 10 feet, and inflicted painful bites resulting in lingering, agonizing death have had wide circulation and have found a credulous audience.
Tarantulas are nearsighted, and their habit of pouncing upon grasshoppers and other large insects on which they prey is probably the basis for exaggerated stories of their jumping abilities. Their strong, sharp fangs can inflict a painful bite, but they use them only rarely in defense against human molestation. Stahnke states that any effects produced appear to be the result of bacterial infection rather than that of poison, although a mild poison is present. Treatment of tarantula bite with iodine or similar antiseptic is recommended.
One species of Avicularia and several of Aphonopelma range throughout the Southwest where they are active during spring, summer, and autumn months. They live in web-lined holes in the ground, usually located on south-facing slopes. The males are commonly encountered traveling across country, and are particularly noticeable as they cross a highway.
Preying upon insects, these large and interesting desert dwellers are beneficial rather than harmful to mankind, and deserve protection.
Unfortunately, many become the innocent victims of the wholly unwarranted fear in which they are held because of the fantastic stories regarding their purported poisonous characteristics.
Conenose bug
(Kissing bug, Bellows bug, Walpai tiger, Cross bug, others)
(Triatoma sp.)
Although not limited to the deserts of the Southwest, conenose bugs, of which there are several species, are commonly associated with subtropical climates.
Certain South American species of the family Reduviidae are disease carrying and there is evidence the conenoses in San Diego County, California, are infected with a disease-producing flagellate. Lack of large bug populations in close contact with man and ineffective transmission habits protect man in the Southwest from disease contacts. However, the site of the bug’s bite becomes inflamed, and swelling may spread over an area up to a foot in diameter.
In general appearance, conenose bugs resemble assassin and squash bugs, with protruding eyes at the base of a cone-shaped snout and are about the same size. Some species are considerably smaller, while others attain a length of an inch or more.