Hogna carolinensis bite, is it true?

[Ratmosphere]

I once remember reading that a Hogna carolinensis bite can cause necrotic lesions, is this true?

 

[Ungoliant]

I once remember reading that a Hogna carolinensis bite can cause necrotic lesions, is this true?

This species is not considered medically significant.

Wolf spiders will bite if handled or if trapped next to the skin. However, their venoms are not very harmful to humans, which is fortunate since the Hogna species are very large spiders whose bites could do serious damage if their venoms were more potent. Typical reactions include initial pain and redness, which subsides with time. No serious medical consequences of these bites have been noted.

The only medically significant spiders in the U.S. are widows (family Theridiidae, genus Latrodectus) and recluses (family Sicariidae, genus Loxosceles.) Google does find some references to wolf spiders and necrosis, but I don't consider those sources to be credible.

Sometimes I think people like to invent their own spider bogeymen, where they basically take the symptoms from the brown recluse and say some other spider also causes those symptoms. (Maybe they just get tired of being told there is no brown recluse where they live.)

 

[Ratmosphere]

@Biollantefan54 Thanks for the rating? It was a question, no need for that. Thank you @Ungoliant !

 

[Biollantefan54]

I was saying I disagree with it causing necrosis, I thought it answered the question pretty well?

 

[The Snark]

While there may be a rare instance of necrotising fasciitis from certain spider venoms, depending on numerous factors such as the patients immune system and limited or restricted peripheral circulation, MRSA and several other bacterium are commonly known to cause the condition.

Please keep in mind, this condition can occur naturally in people with unrelated poor or compromised health conditions. Pointing at a spider as the culprit seems like a scapegoat or sensationalism. IE It's much more likely to find venous profusion restricting causes from the average fast food diet than components in a venom.

 

[Smokehound714]

anything can cause necrosis if it results in the puncture of skin. 10 percent or less of recluse bites cause severe necrosis. puncture wounds in general are the best ways to get infections because portions of the object can break off and cause infection by staph bacteria.

Alot of these people scratch at an itchy bite, introducing bacteria from their fingernails (the dirtiest part of your body) infecting themselves, then blame an unfortunate spider they rolled over on in their sleep.

Wolf spider venom is systemic, they rely on their strength and grappling abilities to subdue their prey, which is why so many have enormous chelicerae.

To my knowledg there are no medically significant lycosoidea with the exception of Phoneutria

 

[Ungoliant]

While there may be a rare instance of necrotising fasciitis from certain spider venoms, depending on numerous factors such as the patients immune system and limited or restricted peripheral circulation, MRSA and several other bacterium are commonly known to cause the condition.

Additional reading on this topic: Causes of Necrotic Wounds Other Than Brown Recluse Spider Bites.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Really liking the feedback, thanks guys!

 

[The Snark]

Additional reading on this topic: Causes of Necrotic Wounds Other Than Brown Recluse Spider Bites.

And I would point out Vetter glosses over and does not go into the sub types of the causes of necrosis. As one glaring blatant example, the average paper money carries a hefty dose of at least one type of bacteria that can cause the condition. Each and every $ bill can be swabbed and cultured and come back with, usually, around 100 different bacteria.
The average persons body carries over 1 trillion bacteria at any given time. The average persons immune system and protections kills or defeats an MRSA infection at least once every 24 hours. We are literally up to and past our eyeballs in hazardous infectious bacteria. Then freak out over a spider bite?

 

[Ungoliant]

Then freak out over a spider bite?

A bite that in many cases, is not even a bite but just a mysterious mark followed by "if you didn't see what bit you, it must have been a spider."

Case in point: my mother has been "bitten" by countless spiders despite doing her best to stay as far away from spider as possible. Meanwhile, I who routinely mess with spiders large and small have never been bitten. (Though I have been spit on by spitting spiders.)

 

[The Snark]

Or how about I got bit by a black widow. Saw it happen. So hrrrm. Now what. I was an EMT and had worked in the ER of the local hospital But this was new to me. So I zap on down to the local ER. Went up to the doc and told and showed him. I get handed off to a nurse. Has me set my tukus on the gurney. Puts a pan of sterile water beside me the hands me a povidone iodine laced scrub brush with the instructions, "You know the drill. 10 minutes."
Those are really still bristled brushes. My hand was glowing like the setting sun when I got done. Then the doc came by and asked about bite symptoms. Nausea, dizziness, disorientation.
First and foremost concern was a puncture wound from a carrion eater. A minor incidental was it was a black widow.

 

[Duriana]

I know this is kinda of an old thread but I have a question about wolf spider bites. Has there been any recorded deaths with them? people have argued with me in the past that wolfies are lethal. Which I know of course normally they aren't but has there been any rare case of someone dying?

 

[The Snark]

I know this is kinda of an old thread but I have a question about wolf spider bites. Has there been any recorded deaths with them? people have argued with me in the past that wolfies are lethal. Which I know of course normally they aren't but has there been any rare case of someone dying?

No. The venom is not considered medically significant.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/deaths-from-spider-bites-again.283469/

 

[Duriana]

No. The venom is not considered medically significant.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/deaths-from-spider-bites-again.283469/

Yeah that's what I thought. But hey of course every spider is lethal according to the normal person. I feel like wolfs are very commonly mistaken for Brown Recluses and people get them confused with each other on a regular basis. That thread you made is really interesting and IMO shows that people need to grow up and get over an empty fear of spiders.

 

[atraxrobustus]

H. carolinensis actually is considered medically significant in terms of misidentification. The current mainstream thinking in the medical community is in favor of positively ruling out a recluse bite in cases where wolf spiders are reported as responsible, because the inexperienced will often misidentify the brown recluse for a wolf spider of some kind or another, and therefore not take heed to get the bite treated .