Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianG
I've been bitten by one and all it did was get a little swollen and red. A few hours later, it was fine. Some people tend to be less affected than others. You hear the horror stories about where a recluse bites someone and the skin basically rots away in a larger and larger area, but I think that's worst-case.
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Well BG then I would have to say that you were not bitten by the Brown Recluse. This spider injects an ensigm that destroys fleshy tissue. I lived in Orlando for over 15 years and have seen quite a few Recluse bites. My neighbor was an EMT and he shared some pretty nasty stories as well. When I was pushing boots at the Orlando Recruit Training Command we had a young man get bit on his foot while he was sleeping. Of course no one wants to be the sick call weenie going to see the doctor for a little insect bite. So he told no one and kept right on training for a couple of days. After three days he finally decided that it was just getting too nasty to avoid seeing the doctor. He never told us until it was too late. They had to cut off his leg just below the knee because the ensigm had spread and destroyed so much of his muscle tissue that they could not repair the damage. Once the tissue is dead there is no comming back. The bite does not make you sick or anything like that, but it really reaks havoc on the area of the bite, and if it is not treated fairly quickly it can be devistating.