SPIDER POISONING

Abstract

The belief that the bite 1 of the spider Latrodectus mactans, 2 common in the southern half of the United States (fig. 1), is poisonous for man has been recognized for centuries. 3 Evidence for the truth of this belief has rested largely on the statement of patients that immediately prior to the onset of their symptoms they had been bitten by a spider answering the description of Latrodectus mactans. 4 In other cases, the spider alleged to have been responsible for the bite was caught and identified as a member of this species by competent arachnologists. Many physicians accepted this evidence of their patients and reported cases of spider poisoning in the scientific literature. Bogen, 5 in a comprehensive review of the literature on this subject, has collected nearly four hundred cases of this kind, ranging from the year 1720 3b to 1931. Twelve cases in which a fatal outcome was attributed to the bite