|
Yellow Sac Spider -
Cheiracanthium
inclusum
Yellow Sac Spiders are relatively small (10 mm body
length), and are yellowish in colour; they are difficult to
distinguish from one another. Bites generally produce instant,
intense stinging pain, not unlike that of the sting of a wasp or
hornet. This may be followed by localised redness, swelling and
itching; these manifestations may or may not evolve into a necrotic
lesion, but when that occurs healing is usually complete within
eight weeks. Side effects may include chills, fever, headache,
dizziness, nausea, anorexia, and sometimes shock.
I thought I'd share a spider story with you, and to
warn people, too. I live in SE Michigan, my back yard is on the southern
border of a State Park, so I encounter various wildlife and insects all
summer long...
2 weeks ago today, I woke up for work as usual. The side of my upper
left thigh was really itching. I checked it out, and there was what I
thought at the time was a mosquito bite. I figured one had gotten
through a pinhole in a screen in the night. Ah well, I'd been bitten by
quite a few on a canoe trip on the Rifle River the previous Saturday...
I got to work, and the area continued to itch. I went to the restroom
and noticed there was now a small blister in the center of the bite
about the size of a BB. I made the unfortunate mistake of picking at and
popping it, thinking it must have been an ingrown hair, not a mosquito
bite. Clear fluid came out that that was that...
Over the course of the next 2 days, the site grew larger. It was very
hot to the touch, painful to sit or lay on, and the hole where the
blister had been became a dark black looking indentation. The raised
area surrounding the wound was very hard like a golf ball. The adjacent
skin surrounding the swollen areas was now becoming an almost
maroon/purple color, and the swelling was visible even with jeans on. I
mentioned what had transpired thus far to a couple outdoorsy coworkers,
who told me they believed it sounded like some sort of spider bite. With
all this going on, I knew it was no mosquito or ingrown hair.
Friday afternoon I had to make an emergency trip up north due to another
insect bite, my fiance is allergic to wasps and had been stung at work
and was in the hospital! It is just over 2 hours to his current
residence. It was constantly uncomfortable and painful the entire drive
up. During the night, he rolled over onto my leg and I nearly hit the
ceiling, it felt as though I was being stabbed in the leg!
Saturday morning I had to turn around and go home to attend a BBQ hosted
by my best friend. The pain and swelling was getting worse and the
discomfort was growing. I made the mistake of having worn denim slacks,
which were further aggrivating the site. By 8p that evening, the pain
was so bad that I had to borrow some baggy cotton pants and I kept
having episodes of nausea. At that time, I showed the area to my best
friend and another acquiantance. She's studying to be a nurse and
advised me that the area looked as though it was becoming infected and
insisted on putting an antiseptic dressing on it.
There was no improvement on Sunday and I was again urged to seek medical
care immediately by friends. I took my daughter to my parent's home, my
father also insisted I seek care immediately. I had been nauseated all
day and was getting a headache. The drive to my parents was nearly
unbearable, as I felt every tiny bump in the road as though I was being
pricked with 100 needles in the site, and stabbed over the train
tracks... I decided to go to the Emergency Room.
When I got there, I had a fever of 101 degrees and was immediately given
an antibiotic shot and tetanus shot. The doctor came in and confirmed it
as an "unidentified spider bite, cutaneously abcessed" (severely
infected). I was put on an antibiotic drip for 30 mins and sent home
with 2000mg antibiotics a day for 10 days. I got home around midnight
and attempted to sleep. I was woken up at 3am with a "dripping" feeling
around the area. The site had begun to ooze pus and blood as the
antibiotics moved in... It oozed the entire day so badly that I had to
stay home from work. The only dressing that seemed to hold under the
conditions were maxi pads that I cut in half and taped over the site.
1/2 way through the day I felt a relief type feeling. A tablespoonful of
grey puss had bursted out of the bite, and I had blood dripping down my
leg through a deep open hole in the sore. It was the single most
disgusting thing on my body I'd ever encountered...
It is now 2 weeks later... I was curious as to what culprit this could
have been, and upon researching the internet (including your website), I
came across the "Yellow Sac Spider". Upon reviewing the symptoms and
pictures of bites, I can tell you I firmly believe this nastiness was
the result of a Sac bite. Research indicates that the majority of Sac
bites occur while the victim is asleep, as they are nocturnal hunters
that seek warmth and humidity. I sleep on my side, and undoubtedly had
rolled over on it. I found out that the Sac is one of the 4 species in
the USA considered potentially harmful, and is most common.
Interestingly enough, I had killed one in my shower only a few weeks
before the bite happened. I remember it, because I had never seen a
translucent yellow spider of this type before. Where there was one,
there was bound to be more...
I write this long-winded diatribe as a warning to others. If you come
across one of these suckers, by all means, dispose of it! I had a week
of pain and discomfort, a yet undisclosed but undoubtedly huge emergency
room bill, prescription meds costs and a day of lost wages all over this
tiny creep!
Thanks for your interesting and highly helpful website!
~ Carrie in Flat Rock, MI
|
