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2006 – Nashville Zoo, Nashville, TN (Rick Schwartz) – Special topic: Asian felids
2007 – Conservation and Research Center, Front Royal, VA (Jack Grisham) - tentative
2008 – Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Cincinnati, OH (Bill Swanson) - tentative
Venomous bite
Brown recluse on a quarter (Photo courtesy of the University of Nebraska)
Brown recluse on a quarter (Photo courtesy of the University of Nebraska)As indicated by its name, this spider is not aggressive and usually bites only when pressed against human skin, such as when tangled up within clothes, bath towels, or in bedding.[5]. In fact, many wounds that are necrotic and diagnosed as brown recluse bites can actually be methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Actual brown recluse bites are rare. Brown recluse bites may produce a range of symptoms known as loxoscelism. There are two types of loxoscelism: cutaneous (skin) and systemic (viscerocutaneous).Most bites are minor with no necrosis. However, a small number of bites produce severe dermonecrotic lesions, and, sometimes, severe systemic symptoms, including organ damage. Rarely, the bite may also produce a systemic condition with occasional fatalities. Most fatalities are in children under 7 or those with a weaker than normal immune system. For a comparison of the toxicity of several kinds of spider bites, see the list of spiders having medically significant venom.)A minority of bites form a necrotizing ulcer that destroys soft tissue and may take months and possibly (very rarely) years to heal, leaving deep scars. There have been no known cases of actual brown recluse bite sites taking years to heal; those that do can usually be attributed to a systemic infection or disease such as diabetes. The damaged tissue will become gangrenous and eventually slough away. The initial bite frequently cannot be felt and there may be no pain, but over time the wound may grow to as large as 10 inches (25 cm) in extreme cases. Bites usually become painful and itchy within 2 to 8 hours, pain and other local effects worsen 12 to 36 hours after the bite with the necrosis developing over the next few days.[6] If the wound is weepy or moist and red looking, it is likely not a recluse bite because the venom actually seals off the capillaries and produces a dry crusty wound. If the wound develops a lump or swelling this is usually indicative of another arachnid or insect as the venom of a recluse does not produce swelling.Serious systemic effects may occur before this time, as the venom spreads throughout the body in minutes. Mild symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fever, rashes, and muscle and joint pain. Rarely more severe symptoms occur including hemolysis, thrombocytopenia, and disseminated intravascular coagulation.[7] Debilitated patients, the elderly, and children may be more susceptible to systemic loxoscelism. Deaths have been reported for both the brown recluse and the related South American species L. laeta and L. intermedia. Other recluse species such as the desert recluse (found in the desert southwestern United states) are reported to have caused necrotic bite wounds.Numerous other spiders have been associated with necrotic bites in the medical literature. A partial list includes the hobo spider, the white-tailed spider, and the yellow sac spider. However, the bites from these spiders are not known to produce the severe symptoms that often follow from a recluse spider bite, and the level of danger posed by each has been called into question. [8][9] So far, no known necrotoxins have been isolated from the venom of any of these spiders, and some arachnologists have disputed the accuracy of many spider identifications carried out by bite victims, family members, medical responders, and other non-experts in arachnology. There have been several studies questioning danger posed by some of these spiders. In these studies, scientists examined case studies of bites in which the spider in question was positively identified by an expert, and found that the incidence of necrotic injury diminished significantly when "questionable" identifications were excluded from the sample set. [10][11]
