5-Year-Old Killed By Spider Bite

[MSP4EVER]

Tenn. Boy Ruled Killed by Spider Bite

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A 5-year-old boy's death was the result of a bite by a poisonous brown recluse spider, the state medical examiner ruled.

Nicholas Robinson was bitten while playing outside his home about 70 miles south of Nashville on July 29.

The child was taken to a doctor, who determined he was suffering from a virus rather than a bite. However, that night the child was rushed to a hospital, where his symptoms included hypersalivation, sweating and neurological problems before he died, according to the medical examiner's report, completed Thursday.

``In about the last 30 or 40 years, I was only able to find about six deaths related to bites proving to be from a brown recluse spider,'' said Dr. Bruce Levy, the medical examiner.

The brown recluse is one of two common spiders in the United States - the other is the black widow - that are considered poisonous, the National Institutes of Health said. The bite can cause a rash, swelling and flu-like symptoms and in rare cases, kidney failure, seizures and coma.


The spider is most common in the South and central United States.

Pic of the Spider:

Brown Recluse

Black Widow

 

[Prodigy]

Exactly why I hate spiders.
So small, so harmful.

Aren't spiders venomous not poisonous?

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

damn i hate spiders....and the area is almost by chicago..boo

 

[Micah]

Oh my god - that is horrible.

That poor little boy. It's times like this I hope there is a heaven.

 

[Natey]

Poor Kid. I got bit by a Brown Recluse about 5 years ago and it hurt like hell. I still have a pretty ugly scar on my leg.

 

[laracroft]

The thing is... had the moron checked the kid for bites rather than just brushing it off as a flu, he would've been saved. Chalk this one up as a law suit.

And I HATE spiders... not so much as scared.. but I have an 8 year old that constantly walks around the house without shoes. He likes to stomp or play with every bug he sees. Note to self.... talk to youngin' about nasty venomous spiders and no more playing with your prey.

 

[mp3girly]

Yeah, brown recluses don't fool around, I remember learning about them in middle school Health class, actually. The bites looked pretty gross. While people dying from bites from various critters is kind of inevitable sometimes, the misdiagnosis thing .. that's bulls***. Stupid doctors are the only reason that kid died.. and I would be seriously pissed if I were those parents. I hope they do file some crazy s***.

I can almost relate, believe it or not. My rabbit got sick and some vet gave him a 0% chance to live, was really pushing euthanasia, etc. Talking to the vet, it was obvious he knew nothing about what he was doing. I took him to another vet and she gave me two medicines to give him twice daily and he was fine. WTF.

Summary = people who malpractice need to be sued, or quit, or die.

 

[uclap5]

Yeah, brown recluses don't fool around, I remember learning about them in middle school Health class, actually. The bites looked pretty gross. While people dying from bites from various critters is kind of inevitable sometimes, the misdiagnosis thing .. that's bulls***. Stupid doctors are the only reason that kid died.. and I would be seriously pissed if I were those parents. I hope they do file some crazy s***.

I can almost relate, believe it or not. My rabbit got sick and some vet gave him a 0% chance to live, was really pushing euthanasia, etc. Talking to the vet, it was obvious he knew nothing about what he was doing. I took him to another vet and she gave me two medicines to give him twice daily and he was fine. WTF.

Summary = people who malpractice need to be sued, or quit, or die.

i couldnt disagree more. diagnosing problems is probably the hardest thing doctors have to do. Be thankful they are as accurate as they are, and not just sticking leeches on people and doing trepanation.

s*** happens to some people some times, its inevitable. Just because you are the one out of a million doesnt mean the doctors did something wrong. those are just the odds at work.

 

[Natey]

Good point, Alan. This was a Brown Recluse bite. Sometimes people won't even feel it until two-three days after being bitten. By then, they have a fever etc. which would make it tough to dignose as a spider bite.

 

[mp3girly]

i couldnt disagree more. diagnosing problems is probably the hardest thing doctors have to do. Be thankful they are as accurate as they are, and not just sticking leeches on people and doing trepanation.

s*** happens to some people some times, its inevitable. Just because you are the one out of a million doesnt mean the doctors did something wrong. those are just the odds at work.

Diagnosing problems is difficult, I have no doubt, but thorough examination probably would have saved that kid's life.

It was even the same thing in the case of my rabbit. The vet took half-assed x-rays and made the problem look worse than it was, and then those x-rays were faxed to the rabbit 'expert' from the clinic. Telling me 'the bunny's gonna die' when all he needed was a little medication is a whole lot of bulls***.

If I was the kid's parents, I'd feel the same way.

 

[laracroft]

It's like our old Beagle. Two years ago, we took him to a vet that gave him ProHeart. It was a "new" heart dewormer for dogs. The vet raved about how "great" it supposedly was, no real side effects, the dog only had to take it once every few months, blah, blah, blah. So about 3 weeks after giving it to him, we started to notice how sick he always got. Took him back to the vet, they gave him some anti-diareah pills?? About another week later, we find him dead in his dog house. It appeared as though he had an annurism. There was blood coming from his ears and nose. He died sometime during the night. By time we found him in the morning, he already had rigamortous settling in and the only thing we could do in our grief was to bury him.

We took up what happened with our beagle with the vet and they scoffed it off. When we talked to a few other people on the web about the medication and if anyone knew about side effects or deaths occurring from ProHeart, we had a bunch of replies. Turns out that you had to administer the medicine with certain conditions. The medication had to be at a certain temperature for x-amount of hours before administering, you could only give a certain amount to however much the dog weighed, the dog had to be x-amount of years old, etc. NONE of these were mentioned. Also happens that the vets were made to "push" the drug because of a kickback or something they receive depending on how much of it they sell. We heard of at least 10 cases where the dog has died suddenly of what appeared to be heart failure.

I believe that owners around the nation called the company and it now says that "in certain cases, it may cause heart failure." There is no federal law that protects animals from certain drug medications like the FDA regulates medication fit for humans. I guess if it's good enough for the lab rat, it's good enough for your family pet.

 

[mp3girly]

That's absolutely awful. I can't put it into words. Knowing that the vet did something like that, just for money, agh.. I wouldn't have been able to sleep.

 

[insanoman2005]

ever see a bannanna spider? They are huge. Bigger than my head.

I hate spiders but they kill 10K X's their own weight in flying insects like gnats, mosquito's and bee's.

 

[laracroft]

Yup. Banana spiders in Okinawa. They're HUGE. I used to stuff my boots so full of socks and crap, that way I could be sure them &*%$ would stay outta there. They leap pretty far also. No webbing.... they'd just jump. I tried to hit one with my boot and I swear on everything holy, my boot looked like it just bounced off it. Apparently I made it mad, therefore, it 'lunged' at me. Thats the only reason why I know they jump. lol

You never saw a person run so fast in your life.....

 

[MSP4EVER]

A pic of the Banana Spider

 

[laracroft]

(blarf) I was just eating.... WHY OH WHY did I check out this thread again....
I do however remember the hair on the legs. It got that close before I let out a big girlie scream, dropped my boots and ran out of the room. I left my ex with the spider in the bedroom and locked him in. lol I told him he couldn't come out til the f$@* was dead. I heard a couple of bangs, the doorknob jingle a few times, lots of girlie squeels and screams, lots of running and banging around the room.... then it got quiet. I was like, "yup, the spider got em... ahhh Horatio, I knew him well....". Then I heard a faint whisper behind the door... "I think I got em... you can let me out now..." I hesitated, seeing as though he's a damn good liar and all. Then once again... the silence was broken by a big girlie scream and a "LET ME OUTTA HERE *%$#@ DAMNIT, this thing is chasing me..COME ON!!!!!"

Long story short... he never got the spider and I slept on the couch alone, with it backed up against the door to the bedroom. lol

 

[insanoman2005]

thats actual size

 

[anarchistchiken]

I got bit by a baby brown recluse a few months ago. I was layin in bed getting ready for sleep and suddenly it felt like someone shoved a red hot fire poker through my hand. Fortunatly, since it was just a baby it didnt do any real damage. I cant even imagine how much an adult bite would hurt.

 

[anarchistchiken]

(blarf) I was just eating.... WHY OH WHY did I check out this thread again....
I do however remember the hair on the legs. It got that close before I let out a big girlie scream, dropped my boots and ran out of the room. I left my ex with the spider in the bedroom and locked him in. lol I told him he couldn't come out til the f$@* was dead. I heard a couple of bangs, the doorknob jingle a few times, lots of girlie squeels and screams, lots of running and banging around the room.... then it got quiet. I was like, "yup, the spider got em... ahhh Horatio, I knew him well....". Then I heard a faint whisper behind the door... "I think I got em... you can let me out now..." I hesitated, seeing as though he's a damn good liar and all. Then once again... the silence was broken by a big girlie scream and a "LET ME OUTTA HERE *%$#@ DAMNIT, this thing is chasing me..COME ON!!!!!"

Long story short... he never got the spider and I slept on the couch alone, with it backed up against the door to the bedroom. lol

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That's awsome!!

 

[pb4ugoout]

i've been bitten twice and now carry and epinephrine pen because of that and my allergy to hornets. i used to be a boy scout and for the past few summers i have worked at a camp in the woods. as a boy scout we went camping and a bear got into out stuff and disturbed an in ground hornets nest. well that night while playing flashlight tag, i fell in it and was stung 43 times. was given epinephrine by my scoutmaster and rushed to the hospital. i almost died of suffocation from the body just swelling up.

the spider bites occurred about 2 years ago at the summer camp. was yelling at my campers to go back to bed one morning before wakeup and i felt a sharp pain followed by a burning sensation on my foot. thought it was one of the kids pokin me with pine straw or something until it started burning really bad. limped to the nurses hut and was taken to the hospital. the next summer it happened again but in the middle of the night. was bitten on the left side of my stomach. for some reason i didn't feel it till about 45 minutes after i was bitten cuz when i finally felt the pain it has already started to eat the cells around the bite and the skin was turning black. was really gross looking. was again rushed to the hospital and now i have about 6 epi pens stratigically placed so if i'm out or at a relatives house i have one. also keep one in my car at all times. really sucks knowing that one little spider and the smallest hornet sting could kill me. anyways, i'll stop blathering