Spider bites

[The Snark]

How often do we read or hear of someone who encountered a spider and the words "Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

Why don't we read or hear "I met/saw a dog today. Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

For every spider bite there are a few million dog bites. And unlike spider bites, if you don't know the dog it's time for a rabies shot. Unlike spider venom, rabies is always fatal.

See a spider and automatically think it is always out to bite you. Spiders are getting way way too bad a rep and rap. Guilty until proven innocent.

 

[Crone Returns]

How often do we read or hear of someone who encountered a spider and the words "Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

Why don't we read or hear "I met/saw a dog today. Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

For every spider bite there are a few million dog bites. And unlike spider bites, if you don't know the dog it's time for a rabies shot. Unlike spider venom, rabies is always fatal.

See a spider and automatically think it is always out to bite you. Spiders are getting way way too bad a rep and rap. Guilty until proven innocent.

We need to fight for the rights for spids!

 

[pannaking22]

Why don't we read or hear "I met/saw a dog today. Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

Welp, I'm going to start testing that out. My apartment complex has heaps of little yippy freaking dogs (very Chihuahua heavy), so that should make things interesting.

 

[ShyDragoness]

We need to march for spider equality

 

[Greasylake]

I've been bitten by spiders twice in my life. The first time I was bitten on my toe by what I suspect was a wolf spider when I was around 3 years old. I was walking through the grass barefoot according to my parents and I guess I spooked the poor little guy and it bit me. My toe swelled up a little and I was fine. The second time was by a 1/2" huntsman sling when I was separating them. I mentioned that in another thread though so I won't go into detail here. Moral of the story is, spiders don't bite very often, and if I was lucky not to be bitten every time I saw one I would have bitten many more times by now, considering that I used to grab spiders in my garden all the time as a kid. I actually got a threat posture from a wild aphonopelma sp. once at my aunt's house, I think I'm more lucky I didn't get haired than lucky I didn't get bitten.

 

[Remy004]

How often do we read or hear of someone who encountered a spider and the words "Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

Why don't we read or hear "I met/saw a dog today. Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

For every spider bite there are a few million dog bites. And unlike spider bites, if you don't know the dog it's time for a rabies shot. Unlike spider venom, rabies is always fatal.

See a spider and automatically think it is always out to bite you. Spiders are getting way way too bad a rep and rap. Guilty until proven innocent.

I cannot agree more.

"Aren't you afraid of being bit?"

So many people have said something akin to that when I've mentioned keeping tarantulas and scorpions. I've even had people ask whether I've had them de-fanged or de-stinged (is that last one even a term? I hope not)... Trying to get them to understand why that is unnecessary and would likely be lethal is an adventure, I'll tell you what. I'd compare it to declawing a cat, but far too many people still seem to think that is acceptable, too...

Ah, and speaking of rabies, I feel like I freaked out more after getting my hand torn up by a stray kitten a few weeks back than I ever have under the threat of a spider bite... The fact that the bite was both provoked (I was forcibly pulling the cat out of a car engine's depths) and came from a relatively healthy-looking animal made the possibility of rabies transmission much, much less likely, but that did not matter to my anxiety-ridden brain...
The cat is fine, by the way. He was taken in by a rescue group and has been turned into a cuddle monster. I will be meeting him this weekend to give hugs and apologize for how I pulled him from his hidey-hole.

 

[MintyWood826]

Why don't we read or hear "I met/saw a dog today. Lucky I wasn't bitten"

I'm not that extreme, but let's just say I'm not a dog person.

I'd compare it to declawing a cat, but far too many people still seem to think that is acceptable, too...

Compare it to losing your jaw. Thay need then to eat (not the cats)

 

[Remy004]

Compare it to losing your jaw. Thay need then to eat (not the cats)

I usually do, eventually. Declawing is just something that's a bit more accessible to people--unnecessary mutilation that causes the animal pain and takes away the ability to defend itself. I mean, WE know what ripping off a tarantula's fangs will do to them, but to most people, the idea isn't any different than the many routine surgeries that we have done to "regular" companion animals...

 

[The Snark]

And let's not forget one of the deadliest bites possible. Firefighter I know got a good chomp from a combative patient. Something like 6 virulent bacterium. 3 weeks in the hospital on IVs, a half year on IV and oral antibiotics, suffered nerve damage from so many antibiotics pumped in, and developed endocarditis for life from one of the bacteria (actino something).

 

[NYAN]

I’ve handled hundreds of spiders including widows, currently have around 100 all around me and have turned rocks, logs, etc over, put my hands in all sorts of places and have been bitten maybe 2-3 times in my entire life. Meanwhile, people apparently get bitten in their sleep weekly, know people who have been bitten supposedly and freak out every time they see a spider. I’ve been bitten by humans more times than spiders. The story is the same. People get bitten in their sleep or find mysterious bumps, sores etc. on them and blame the spider. Sometimes their doctor says it’s a spider, sometimes they just assume it. However, they almost never find the spider in the act of biting them or squished in bed with them.

 

[schmiggle]

3 weeks in the hospital on IVs, a half year on IV and oral antibiotics, suffered nerve damage from so many antibiotics pumped in, and developed endocarditis for life from one of the bacteria (actino something).

Actinobacillus? Medically significant, A. actinomycetemcomitans found commonly in the mouth (so mode of infection matches) and known as an agent of endocarditis, though not the most common one.

In case you're interested, it's been moved to the genus aggregatibacter. Bacterial taxonomy is painful.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

How often do we read or hear of someone who encountered a spider and the words "Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

See a spider and automatically think it is always out to bite you. Spiders are getting way way too bad a rep and rap. Guilty until proven innocent.

Simple: dogs are 'social accepted' (since forever) animals, spiders aren't and will never.

Why don't we read or hear "I met/saw a dog today. Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

Ah ah, but here in Italy you hear that kind of statements pretty often, mostly by mailmans or other people (like private couriers) that, for work, needs always to ring the doorbell of someone, but before reaching said doorbell, they need to enter in those inner gardens full of Cane Corso and other trained mastiffs

Severe bites, and less often fatalities, happened and still happens. Just the other day, btw, in Sicily, a woman losed her arm due to her Pitbull attack v

http://palermo.gds.it/2018/07/18/pi...ato-terza-aggressione-in-pochi-giorni_887179/

 

[The Snark]

Actinobacillus? Medically significant, A. actinomycetemcomitans

I think you nailed it. When did it grow fur and moved to a diff genus? Isn't actinobacillus the primary reason dentists hand out amoxy like candy? Was a beetch what happened to that guy. I remember him packing four 50lb hoses up on his back to our camp on Strawberry peak then a couple of years later I went and visited him. He got winded walking into the living room from the back yard.

 

[MintyWood826]

I read a couple reports of a study in Australia where they found that bees and wasps were the most dangerous venomous animals. Horses were the most dangerous non-venomous. Spiders killed none during it.



People should get over their irrational fears of spiders. They already live with so many they might as well.

 

[schmiggle]

People should get over their irrational fears of spiders. They already live with so many they might as well.

I'm around people all the time yet I still have an irrational fear of those.

 

[schmiggle]

When did it grow fur and moved to a diff genus? Isn't actinobacillus the primary reason dentists hand out amoxy like candy?

Actinobacillus is still medically significant, but A. actinomycetemcomitans was moved, with two species of Haemophilus, after a genetic study found that that phylogeny fit better.

Here's the paper:

http://www.microbiologyresearch.org...est&checksum=67C50D2BB0FA9B5007BB1A18FB8A642A

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if these continue to migrate.

 

[MintyWood826]

I'm around people all the time yet I still have an irrational fear of those.

Me too. I didn't think of that when I wrote. What started spider fear, anyway?

 

[NYAN]

Me too. I didn't think of that when I wrote. What started spider fear, anyway?

Some people think it’s a survival instinct. You fear things that have the possibility to kill you type thing.

 

[basin79]

How often do we read or hear of someone who encountered a spider and the words "Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

Why don't we read or hear "I met/saw a dog today. Lucky I wasn't bitten"?

For every spider bite there are a few million dog bites. And unlike spider bites, if you don't know the dog it's time for a rabies shot. Unlike spider venom, rabies is always fatal.

See a spider and automatically think it is always out to bite you. Spiders are getting way way too bad a rep and rap. Guilty until proven innocent.

I don't have any figures but I bet you're more likely to be bit off a human than a spider if the world's population is taken into account.

 

[The Snark]

I read a couple reports of a study where they found that bees and wasps were the most dangerous venomous animals. Horses were the most dangerous non-venomous. Spiders killed none during it.

Weird science/statistics. For every significant spider bite, 5 people are struck by lightning. Deaths in the US per year from: bees and wasps ~45, horses ~35, motor vehicles 37,461 (2016).

Actinobacillus is still medically significant, but A. actinomycetemcomitans was moved, with two species of Haemophilus, after a genetic study found that that phylogeny fit better.

The games that gram negative plays. Trivia: Actinobacillus infection used to be called wooden tongue disease (in cattle) and was treated with iodine-mercury. Proper treatment was one of the first proven uses of penicillin.