# What (spider?) bit my wife? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 14, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152 "2016-01-14T17:56:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/1 "2016-01-14T17:56:32Z")
So a couple of days ago my wife noticed what looked like two tiny pimples very close in her cleavage area which she poked at only to have them become a 1x2 inch weeping sore a couple of hours later. She only showed it to me the next day at which point we researched the symptoms and decided it was probably a spider bite. We live in Maryland and so near as I can tell the only venomous spider we have in our area is the black widow. But they are pretty large and distinctive, I’ve never seen one on our property, and I have a hard time believing that one could end up in her cleavage without her noticing. Could have been bit by another species of spider that is not normally considered venomous but for some reason caused a bad reaction in her? Or could it be something else? The sore seems to be getting better but shes going to have someone at a nearby health clinic take a look at it just to ease her mind. Looking up spider bites on google images has not been conducive to a healthy state of mind, as they tend to show the worst possible outcome. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/2 "2016-01-14T18:35:35Z")
I hope your wife gets better quickly and that the clinic reports that they are not spider bites, as they seem unlikely. Yes, the image results for Googling any skin disorders are pretty nauseating. I don’t like seeing my dermatologist to check up on moles or spots, because she likes to pull out of her pocket a stack of skin disease “flash cards” to show me what various skin ailments look like. I usually feel queasy for a day or two after seeing her. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/3 "2016-01-16T16:23:04Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > So a couple of days ago my wife noticed what looked like two tiny pimples very close in her cleavage area which she poked at only to have them become a 1x2 inch weeping sore a couple of hours later. > > She only showed it to me the next day … Well all the spiders can inject enzymes. Your wife was not injected with a venom that could be isolated to a single species. Basically, its your regular house spider, perhaps a broad face sac, which is in the news as evolving and adapting to household environments in New England USA,filling the niche left by the DDT era eradication of endemic spiders of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/4 "2016-01-16T22:02:10Z")
Most of what appear to present as spider bites to the layman are actually staph infections. If your wife lets you come into the treatment room with her, ask if they can take a sample and test for staph. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/5 "2016-01-16T22:50:57Z")
Brown Recluse? > **[Brown Recluse Spiders: Facts, Bites & Symptoms](https://www.livescience.com/39996-brown-recluse-spiders.html)** > > Here's what to know about brown recluse spiders and how to avoid getting bitten by them. > [@](#): > > The brown recluse spider is well-known for its appearance and poisonous bite. It is the most common and widespread of the brown spiders, but it is found only in the south and central United States. > The brown recluse has a venomous bite, and anyone bitten should seek immediate emergency medical help, according to the National Institutes of Health. > > For those with higher sensitivity levels, a small white blister appears at the bite site soon after the bite. The tissue may become hard. Lesions are dry, blue-gray or blue-white patches with ragged edges surrounded by redness. This color pattern has yielded the nickname “red, white and blue,” and, in severe reactions, the bite site can develop a “volcano lesion,” according to The Ohio State University. The damaged tissue becomes gangrenous and leaves an open wound that can be as large as a human hand. It can take eight weeks or longer for full recovery, and scars may result. > > According to the NIH, symptoms of a brown recluse bite may include itching, chills, fever, nausea, sweating and a general feeling of discomfort or sickness. Your description sounds like it could be such a bite. Go to the ER. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/6 "2016-01-17T02:28:19Z")
I like cleavage, but I only bite if she asks so, no, it wasn’t me. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/7 "2016-01-17T04:38:07Z")
No cite, but I remember reading once that while spiders are commonly blamed for any mysterious bite or bite-like wound, actual spider bites are rare enough that if you didn’t actually _see_ a spider then it was probably something else. A doctor or nurse at the clinic would have a better idea of what that something else might be. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/8 "2016-01-17T06:27:12Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > We live in Maryland and so near as I can tell the only venomous spider we have in our area is the black widow. > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Brown Recluse? > > [Brown recluse spiders: Facts, bites & symptoms | Live Science](http://www.livescience.com/39996-brown-recluse-spiders.html) > > Your description sounds like it could be such a bite. > > Go to the ER. > [@Lamia](#): > > No cite, but I remember reading once that while spiders are commonly blamed for any mysterious bite or bite-like wound, actual spider bites are rare enough that if you didn’t actually _see_ a spider then it was probably something else. A doctor or nurse at the clinic would have a better idea of what that something else might be. And here we may have this phenomenon in action. Specifically, the brown recluse is often blamed for bites way, way outside its range. Here’s a map, by the way, for anybody who’s interested. [http://spiders.ucr.edu/images/colorloxmap.gif](http://spiders.ucr.edu/images/colorloxmap.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/9 "2016-01-17T14:56:31Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Most of what appear to present as spider bites to the layman are actually staph infections. QFT QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/10 "2016-01-17T15:59:10Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > QFT > > QtM, MD decode requested.😕 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/11 "2016-01-17T16:08:56Z")
Almost certainly not a brown recluse. Poor things really are blamed for everything, even by doctors and nurses who ought to know better. I think the problem is that in the minds of most people there are four spiders: black widows, brown recluse, tarantula and daddy longlegs. I’m not even sure what part of this: > [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > …what looked like two tiny pimples very close in her cleavage area which she poked at only to have them become a 1x2 inch weeping sore a couple of hours later. sounds like this: > [@](#): > > a small white blister appears at the bite site soon after the bite. The tissue may become hard. Lesions are dry, blue-gray or blue-white patches with ragged edges surrounded by redness. Another vote for “probably staph”. The cleavage is a commonly itchy area that women scratch without realizing it. Get a little tear in the skin from a fingernail, staph gets in, and you get a pimple like sore. Usually not a big deal, the body fights it and it goes away before you’ve even had a chance to get worried about it. But becoming a 1X2 inch weeping sore in a matter of hours is rather concerning. Glad she’s getting it checked out. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/12 "2016-01-17T16:17:09Z")
I woke up one morning with a few spider bites on my torso, went to the clinic and found out it was shingles. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/13 "2016-01-17T18:43:46Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > decode requested.😕 QFT = “Quoted For Truth” QtM = “Qadgop the Mercotan” MD = “Monotonous Didact” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/14 "2016-01-17T20:52:51Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > QFT = “Quoted For Truth” > > QtM = “Qadgop the Mercotan” > > MD = “Monotonous Didact” My thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-spider-bit-my-wife/743152/15 "2016-01-18T05:02:30Z")
A variety of critters have bites that can introduce infectious pathogens into flesh. The fangs of cats, for example, can penetrate deeply and cause serious weaping wounds. My guess is that your wife was bitten by a tiger. Is she a sound sleeper?