A posting on behalf of a friend......
I need to do some reading on american spiders. This is in
reference to a fellow who had a reaction which included
paresthesias and hallucinations after being bitten by a
unknown insect in the dark. Besides the neurological symptoms
he also became hyponatremic and his doctors told him that all these
clinical problems were diagnostic of a spider bite.
Since he didn't develop a necrotic lesion around the bite
area ( he claimed he felt a sting on his shoulder), we can
eliminate the brown recluse. I suppose the only other spider
that could possibly cause major clinical symptoms would be the
black widow.
Where may I read about the mode of action of the venom, etc?
In particular about neurological reactions if any? He was also
told he had a residual neuropathy due to the neurotoxic
effect of the venom.
Dr. Charles A. Miller, rellim at mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
Bionet.toxicology news group:
http://www.bio.net/hypermail/TOXICOLOGY
Dept. Environmental Health Sciences, SL29
Center for Bioenvironmental Research
Tulane Univ. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
1430 Tulane Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70112
(504)585-6942
