Why is there edema associated with some infections?

Factual Questions
1

I have a rather personal reason for asking just now. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I think I may have been bitten by a spider on Sunday. I felt a sharp pain on the side of my hand at one point, and later noticed a tiny painful blister that broke. The spot where the blister was scabbed over, remained red and tender, and showed early signs of becoming infected. This morning I woke up to a throbbingly painful hand with a clear infection under the scab and swelling across the entire back of my hand and up my pinkie, making it hard to form a fist. I understand of course the swelling right around the area of the ?bite, but why is the rest of my hand swelling? What is my body trying to do by allowing all this fluid to accumulate in my hand?

I’ve already made an appointment with the doctor for this afternoon, so I’m not looking for treatment options. :slight_smile: I’m just curious about the process I’m seeing in action.

2

Edema is the accumulation of fluid in interstitial spaces beneath your skin caused by an inflammatory response to the bite.
Inflammation is a protective thing and involves all kinds of bodily troops as they set up and fight infection: leukocyte gathering of arms and phagocytosis of microorganisms, macrophage clean up crews, fibroblast crews to develop new cells, etc. and they all work better in a nice liquidy environment caused by an increase in vascular permeability as your capillaries flood the war plain.

3

Sunfish, you may have been bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider…a poisinous arachnid whose venom causes tissue death.

Get your ass to an ER now.