Brown Recluse Spider Bites Increasing
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One of the more painful spider bites is from the Brown Recluse Spider and in Kansas City they’re seeing nearly 70% of homes penetrated by the Brown Recluse according to Fox News in Kansas City.
The result has been an increased number of patients in the emergency room according to Dr. Gary Wasserman who says that the KC-area is a hotbed for the spider because it’s just north of where Brown Recluse spiders are known to concentrate.
In the interview, Wasserman suggested that he has seen the number of patients who have had severe reactions to the spider bites nearly double in five years.
For some the Brown Recluse spider bite looks like a mosquito bite and then the next day, if they have a reaction to the bite as Rachel McCabe did, they need to go the emergency room.
Ms. McCabe is now healthy again, but Dr. Wasserman states that some patients face scarring after recovering from the poisonous venom of the Brown Recluse.
According to the Ohio State University fact sheet on the Brown Recluse, it recommends many of the usual measures for preventing spider bites including wearing gloves when working around wood piles and wearing long-sleeved shirts and covering the skin.
With bites that can go unnoticed or feel like a mere pin prick, caution around venomous, Brown Recluse spiders is paramount.
Here’s a video of a purported Brown Recluse spider:
