Watch where you put your hands

[specialist]

These were sent to me by my aunt and uncle today. It give food for thought when we dive into a pile of timber. I know that I don't take a lot of notice when sorting boards.

Robert

[Big Shed]

Doesn't look good.

Would appreciate some more info, what sort of spider? How did they manage to get such a nice picture of the spider, what is happening to the thumb/hand, what is the prognosis?

Only a few weeks ago I was handling some timber in the shed and got bitten by a big huntsman, hurt like hell and had a swollen hand for a few days, but nothing like this!
Also didn't have my camera handy and didn't ask the huntsman to wait to get his picture taken.

[specialist]

Sorry, it's a brown recluse spider. and I don't know the prognosis, but from what I have seen in documentries it isn't good. These pictures apparently came from the westmead hostpital. That's all I know.

I just googled the spider and found that it is american only and here is a link to the story.

Robert

[Big Shed]

So these pictures came from a hoax email

[specialist]

It seems like it, still it serves as a warning for us. There are spiders in this area that can have a similar affect on the body, although not as bad.

Robert

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Ouch!

Apparently here in Oz the common Black House Spider and White-tailed Spider can cause similar necrotic ulcers, although I think that the white-tails have been moved to the "maybe not" list.

Either way, I've no intention of letting one of the li'l blighters bite me to find out!

[Big Shed]

It seems like it, still it serves as a warning for us. There are spiders in this area that can have a similar affect on the body, although not as bad.

Robert

Sorry I disagree, to quote from your link:

No Australian spider is known to have necrotic (tissue-destroying) venom" it said, adding that the brown recluse spider only exists in a very small area of one southern Australian state. It also noted local white-tailed spiders have been "erroneously blamed" for similar wounds.
-

So, a typical News Ltd sensational beat-up.

[Groggy]

Well something in Australia does this. I was on a course with a doctor and a few other medical people when the Dr noticed one of the other students hands. Suddenly they are both in a car and off to hospital. Student had a large chunk of flesh cut out. He thought it was a spider bite but wasn't sure.

[RufflyRustic]

Spider bites can be very nasty and can, indeed, turn as nasty as those photos. I don't agree with perpetuating hoaxes, but regardless, those photos simply make me want to be extra careful as we have a large influx of spiders around at the present time.

[specialist]

I don't agree with perpetuating hoaxes

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to post a hoax, my lack of research. I only wanted to give a reminder of what nasties are around in the places that we frequent. Let's face it, there are all sorts of places where we put our hands and can't really see what is there. Just not long ago I found under a house a small agressive spider that was not much bigger than a red back, but was many times more aggressive, it didn't run away, just stood it's ground with front legs in the air. When I decribed it to some old timers around here, they claimed not to have seen one before.

Robert

[Jack E]

Sorry I disagree, to quote from your link:

No Australian spider is known to have necrotic (tissue-destroying) venom" it said, adding that the brown recluse spider only exists in a very small area of one southern Australian state. It also noted local white-tailed spiders have been "erroneously blamed" for similar wounds.
-

So, a typical News Ltd sensational beat-up.

That is wrong, the white tail or white tipped spider does have a necrotic effect, I have seen it.

Cheers, Jack

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Googling around, it seems our Black House Spider can cause necrotic ulcers, although only rarely and usually "in the case of multiple bites."

I'd say it's quite possible that this is also true of the white-tail and current denials are the authorities over-reacting to the media overkill, as they are wont to do.

I still have no intention of finding out personally.

[rotten_66]

Have a look at

http://www.snopes.com/ (Search on recluse spider)

It is the internet equivalent of mythbusters, quite a few good reads and some really yucky stuff.

This is a hoax, the brown recluse lives in a small part of the US,

DEFINITELY NOT FOUND IN AUSTRALIA.

This email has been doing the rounds for years.

[Big Shed]

Thanks for that

here is a direct link to that Snopes page

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Has anyone bothered scanning through the comments on the original link?

Readers' Comments
Gory spider-bite email fools Aussies

By staff writers

November 28, 2008 09:00am
Article from: NEWS.com.au
[...]
Everybody knows that the flesh eating spiders where wiped out when the Australian government released wave after wave of antiwontygongs; which were subsequently driven to extinction by the native drop-bear. Sheep are actually the most venomous of Australia's many creatures - a single bite can cause severe loss of intelligence. Sheep bite victims (often referred to as New Zealanders) go on to believe all they read on the internet and everything that John Howard says.

Posted by: Andrew Lee of null 3:21pm November 28, 2008
Comment 82 of 96

I wonder if he (Andrew Lee) is a regular here in the UBeaut Forums? Sounds mighty familiar...