White Tailed Spider bite at Copi Hollow

It seems that everywhere we look living in a remote area there is something out there that can either make us  ill, leaving terrible scars and or kill us.

A member of Copi Hollow, Mrs Karen Trengrove was recently the victim of one such predator, the White Tailed Spider.

White Tailed Spider’s live  in gardens and inside houses, beneath bark and rocks, in leaf litter and are often found in the folds of clothes, towels and shoes (yeah I’ll be remembering to check these things before using them again).

Karen was sitting on the beach under the tree’s when she was bitten.  She realised she had been bitten when she felt a small sting and looked down to find the spider on her leg.  She quickly killed it but it was already to late.  At first this didn’t seem a problem and all felt ok and didn’t consider the bite to have been a huge concern.

Later in the day Karen started to feel quite ill and this feeling got quite bad, rather quickly so it was decided to get her into Broken Hill Hospital asap.

Upon examining the spider bite it was found that the spider bite had infected a skin cancer that was on Karen’s leg.   So the doctor had to cut out both the cancer and bite area.

What was thought to be a quick operation resulted in 5 hours of surgery, as the doctor cut she found more of the area looked to be affected by the poison.  The poison had crystallised in the skin in and around the cancer and the bite which resulted in a much larger cut and so a skin graft had to be taken and used to patch up the area.

So far it has taken about 5 months to heal and is still not completely gone.  It seems Karen will now bare the scars of this bite for years to come.

Upon returning to Copi Hollow after some time recovering from the surgery, Karen and Peter had dinner with Julie Ruduck.  During this dinner Julie spotted a white tailed spider in the doorway of her van and promptly killed it.

These spiders are lurking everywhere at Copi so please be vigilant in checking your van and surrounding area.

I did a little research on the white tailed spider:

White-tailed Spider bites can cause initial burning pain followed by swelling and itchiness at the bitten area. Occasionally, weals, blistering or local ulceration have been reported – conditions known medically as necrotising arachnidism. As well as the spider’s venom, minor bacterial infection of the wound may be a contributory factor in such cases.

In most cases, the bite from a white tailed spider only causes a mild reaction, including itching and skin discolouration, which usually resolves after a few weeks. There are no specific first aid treatments for a white tailed spider bite, except the use of icepacks to help relieve the swelling. You should not use antibiotics. Always see your doctor if any spider bite does not clear up.