Black Widow Spider Injures 17-Year-Old
A southern black widow spider is believed to have been the culprit behind a recent, powerful spider bite and subsequent reaction from 17-year-old, Brad Gregory from Beldin, Michigan, according to WOOD-TV.
The southern black widow is not native to Michigan and is thought to have been a stowaway in a dishwasher box sent from Mexico. Black widows do appear in the midwestern United States, but they are not the venomous southern version.
After helping his grandfather unload the dishwasher, Gregory told WOOD-TV that he smashed four black widow spiders. But, within a half-an-hour, a bite appeared and he began to vomit. After visiting the second of two hospitals - the only hospital in Michigan with the proper medicine - he was given a dose of antivenin.
Though the antivenin worked, Gregory’s symptoms of the dangerous black widow spider bite included disruption of his nervous system and excruciating, abdominal pain. As a result, he missed his senior season of football.
Gregory told WOOD that he still has the carcass of the southern black spider and plans to make a necklace out of it.
September 30, 2008 – 7:45 pm
