White tail spider bites

Ok, some of this may have been covered in other replies as I have not read them all, but this issue has raised its head before here and on other sites and seems to be doing the rounds again. This will be the second post tonight on two sites I have visited.
The Brown Recluse Spider Does Not Exist in Australia. It is a spider found in the US. I did a fair bit of research on this about 18 months ago at work as the question was raised. A lot of net research and speaking to the WA museum made me aware this spider does not exist in Australia and is a myth purported by spam emails and does the rounds regularly. If you read or get any of the emails Australia has been substituted for America and is fairly blatant it has been modified.
There is also a lot of misconception with the white tailed spider. The white tailed spider itself is not poisonous. Again in consultation with WA museum, a couple of doctors, friends bitten by white tail spiders and the spider clearly identified and confirmed (4 had absolutelly no reaction and 1 had major illness and necrosis as a result) and many hours on the net. The information I have is it is believed that the venom and the bite are not the issue, but the type of bacteria that are parasitical on the spiders fangs cause the issues after entering the human blood stream. It is estimated that around 20% of the population may have some adverse reaction ranging from minor (minor necrosis, headache, nausea, minor difficulty breathing and more and these may occur individually or concurrentlly) to serious medical implication (severe necrosis that may lead to skin grafts being required and or amputation of affected parts, severe respiratory distress and a number of chronic complaints). As I have said I personaly know of one person this can be directly attributed to a bite from this spider. Of this 20% most have minor reactions and make full recovery, but as I know personally some have chronic and debilitating problems. About 80% of the population will have absolutelly no reaction.This is why it has never been regarded as a major health concern.
Just to clarify as far as I have been able to determine it is not the white tail spider or its venom that cause any issues, but the bacteria entering a humans blood stream and then having and adverse or allergic reaction in that person.
Sort of like the Komodo dragon, it is not actually the bite from these reptiles that will kill you, but the bacteria that breed in their mouth on the rotting meat that is stuck there and from eating rotten meat.

seems craig is right just googled brown recluse its not found in aust so back to the white tailed spider:D how have the medical people missed that its on medscape and the all knowing whiki:p

Then I guess we will have to just supply the white tails with Listerene!!!!!!!!:angel:

must be that a sample of 130 was too small a number to look at might be that only 1 in a 1000 have bad reactions:) but i would have thought that the people who wrote the study would have checked to see if the spider they were blaming even live here:eek: the symtoms of the brown recluse match those decribed exactly may be it was wishfull thinking

No reactions here so far anyway:) Seems to have all gone away. Just found a scorpion in my office though:eek: They re aggressive little buggers as well.

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Originally Posted by THE BOOGER

must be that a sample of 130 was too small a number to look at might be that only 1 in a 1000 have bad reactions:) but i would have thought that the people who wrote the study would have checked to see if the spider they were blaming even live here:eek: the symtoms of the brown recluse match those decribed exactly may be it was wishfull thinking

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I think what you may find is it was actually a US study of the brown recluse and it has been doctored to show Australia. I know over the last 5 years or so I have had several emails relating to the brown recluse and its bites infering it is in Australia. On most of them if you look carefully in the text there ar minor ommissions and spelling that show it is in fact usually a doccument originating in the US. As well as this all of the so called photos relating to the bites from a brown recluse spider have clear indicators that the photos were taken in North America. Usually by noticing power supplies, power points and types of equipment and set ups in the medical rooms, even down to taps being set up US style.
There are many many stories like this where OS stories have been doctored to infer they occured in Australia and are just spam.
However I have seen the adverse reaction from a white tailed spider, the resulting necrosis (and following skin grafts) and chronic disabilities personally in one person. Yes this is probablly one of the most extreme cases, but it has occured and is not totally attributable to the spider, but the combination of the spider, bacteria and low resistence and reaction from the casualty. I have also seen several minor reactions with very minor necrosis but with treatment they did clear up and there were no noticeable chronic effects that we have become aware of.
To quantify I knew of 5 people bitten in the Goldfields and only one had any reaction and this was serious and chronic. Had 3 people bitten on site at Ravy and confirmed, 2 had very minor necrosis and one a bit of a sore. No long term effects.

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Originally Posted by numpty

Which only goes to prove the point that we all have different tolerance levels to various poisons.:D:D

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So true, I've never been effected.;):o

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Originally Posted by Rangier Rover

No reactions here so far anyway:) Seems to have all gone away. Just found a scorpion in my office though:eek: They re aggressive little buggers as well.

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You found a scorpion in your office. Twice I got stung in bed by scorpions. It really hurts a lot. Turned on the light to see what bit me and it was a scorpion that crawled into my bed.

Better than the snake that bit me in bed one night, though after being rushed to hospital and transfered to the base hospital by ambulance, I did not need any treatment for that snake bite. Australias statistics are:-- 3000 snake bites a year, 300 needing tretment, and about 5 deaths a year out of those 3000 bites.

As a side issue I keep bees and I am stung more often than I like because it kills the bee. However it is not the sting that causes me problems. The problem usually shows up the next day or so and is a bacterial infection introduced off the stinger, and I usually end up on antibiotics to clear the infection. I must say that this is rare but occasionally does happen. Jim
:D:D:D:D:D:mad::o:o:o:D:D:D

I was bitten by a white tail. I was going out with a nurse at the time.. when i said it was a white tail and pointed to it on the floor she just said 'ah don't worry, its not the poison that makes the sores, its the infections from bacteria they can have on their fangs'.

She wanted off and came back with some cotton wool and tea tree oil to disinfect the bite and it was fine. She said that disinfecting the bite is really really important and an infection is what causes most peoples problems. Apparently spiders don't have very good oral hygiene!