There are more than 30,000 species of spiders, most of which cannot inflict serious bites to humans because of their delicate mouthparts and impotent or prey-specific venoms. However, some spiders produce toxic venoms that can cause skin lesions, systemic illnesses, and neurotoxicity. One of the more common bites is inflicted by the widow spiders (Latrodectus species). A bite from a widow spide...

INTRODUCTION: The brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa Gertsch & Mulaik (Figs. 1-2, 6), is frequently reported in Florida as a cause of necrotic lesions in humans. For example, in the year 2000 alone, Loft (2001) reported that the Florida Poison Control Network had recorded nearly 300 alleged cases of brown recluse bites in the state; a subset of 95 of these bites was reported in the 21 cou...

This is a retrospective case series report of 21 snakebite victims admitted to a provincial hospital 80 km north of the capital city Vientiane between January 2007 and June 2008. There were 13 Malayan Pit Viper (MPV) and 6 Green Pit Viper (GPV) bites. Two patients could not identify the snake, but developed severe coagulopathy and were therefore most likely bitten by a MPV or GPV. Seven of 13 p...

Context: Every year 80,000 people are reported as victims of snakebite and about 25,000 to 50,000 people are reported as fatal victims mostly from the rural communities of India who lack the financial backups & basic awareness. Aims: This study was conducted to assess the clinical profile of snakebite cases reported to tertiary care institute in Bikaner Rajasthan. Methods and Material: 138 pati...

Tropical and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, and Northern Territory Clinical School, Flinders University, Darwin, NT. Bart J Currie, FRACP, DTM+H, Professor in Medicine. Reprints will not be available from the author. Correspondence: Professor B J Currie, Menzies School of Health Research, PO Box 41096, Casuarina, NT 0811. bar...

OBJECTIVE To describe trends regarding snakebite enquiries to the UK National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) from 2004 to 2010. METHODS The NPIS telephone enquiry database, the UK Poisons Information Database, was interrogated for enquiries to the four NPIS units from 2004 to 2010. Search terms used were 'snake' and 'snakebite'. Information from the national dataset was available from Car...

INTRODUCTION Soldiers in field units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are susceptible to injury by various poisonous animals during training and operations. Bites and envenomations by animals such as snakes, scorpions, and spiders can be painful and debilitating, and at times life-threatening. We have examined the extent of exposure of IDF soldiers to snake and arthropod bites and the morbidi...

The Amazon region reports the highest incidence of snakebite envenomings in Brazil. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of snakebites in the state of Amazonas and to investigate factors associated with disease severity and lethality. We used a nested case-control study, in order to identify factors associated with snakebite severity and mortality using official Brazilian reporting systems, fr...

BACKGROUND This review provides the physician with a clinical approach to the diagnosis and management of spider bites. It examines the recent literature concerning management of bites causing dermonecrosis, secondary infection, neuromuscular damage, and allergic reactions. METHODS Using the key words "spider bites," "brown recluse spider bites," "necrotic arachnidism," "black widow spider bi...

Haematomas in various body organs have been reported following snake bites. We report the case of a post-menopausal woman who presented with a broad ligament haematoma diagnosed two days after a viper bite which required blood transfusion and laparotomy. This rare possibility should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a woman presenting with a lower abdominal or pelvic mass, anaemia ...