Spider Bite?

[golfgal]

That white spot at the bottom looks like a bad infection, would be money that the rest of that swollen spot is full of pus too. I wouldn't wait until morning, this is something you should take him to urgent care for. This is beyond a "bite".

 

[LMC]

That looks awful. Does it not hurt him? Have you been using antibiotic ointment on it at all? If so and it looks like this my guess is it is serious. If you have not used ointment, use some tonight. Don't wait till Monday! If it is cellulitis, it damages the tissues under the skin. The area looks larger than your last picture and that is what happens with cellulitis, it spreads.

 

[Bluestars]

I would take him in today. The thing about staph is that the earlier you get treatment, the better. Once it spreads, it's much harder to control. It might not be staph, but I would not take a chance.

 

[brittsmum1998]

A friend of mine got a spider bite on the top of her head. Her son had seen it crawling on her during the night. I guess 6 yr old boys think thats cool? I'm glad I have a daughter It bothered her for a couple of days. The spider had laid eggs in the top of her head!!! She had to go back to the dr's a couple of times.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would be willing to bet serious money that it's staph. Go have it seen ASAP.

People with staph often come in saying they have a "spider bite" because that's what it looks like, although they don't recall the actual incident of being bitten. Whether or not it turns out to be resistant staph (MRSA) or not, he needs antibiotics - the sooner the better.

I have to agree.

My 19yodd had a spider bite last week and it looked like a "bullseye". She went to the doctor and they said just keep an eye on it. She had minor inflammation and no pain.

 

[LilyWDW]

Take him to urgent care or another clinic. The redness is spreading. You can see it going up and down the arm in the picture. That white spot also looks bad.

 

[disneybound2010]

A friend of mine got a spider bite on the top of her head. Her son had seen it crawling on her during the night. I guess 6 yr old boys think thats cool? I'm glad I have a daughter It bothered her for a couple of days. The spider had laid eggs in the top of her head!!! She had to go back to the dr's a couple of times.

I'm never going to sleep again!

 

[laurie31]

Hi guys! It didn't look too bad this morning, definately not as red. So I took a wait and see approach. After summer school it looks bad so I called and he has an appt first thing in the morning. I'll let you all know tomorrow night what they say.

It looks much worse! I pulled up Page 1 of this thread in another window so I could compare the pics side by side. There is a significant increase in both the redness and the swelling. It really looks like it's full of pus. My guess is that they will incise and drain it. They should culture it as well. I'm glad you're going first thing in the morning. Hopefully it will clear up after one round of antibiotics.

 

[WDWBarb]

OP - how did it go at the doctor?

 

[Iott Family]

My son had a spot like that a few years ago while we were on vacation in WDW. After the third day he came out of the shower and showed it to me again. I grabbed his arm to take a look and that amount of pressure caused it to drain. It was yellowish/greenish puss and gross. I called our ped at home and they said to find somewhere to take him. The urgent care doc thought it was some sort of a staff infection but couldn't say what kind since it had drained and he couldn't culture it. He gave us an Rx for a normal antibiotic and a strong one. He said if it wasn't showing serious improvement after two days to start using the stronger antibiotic and to see a doctro when we got home. Luckily he only needed the first antibiotic.

The doctor he saw when we got home and it was almost healed said it was a spider bite. I really think the first doctor was right though.

I was going to say the same thing. Its most likely a staff infection and needs doctor care. Try not to pop or drain it, let the doctor do so so he can culture it and rule out MRSA strain of staff........In the meantime you can cover it with bacitracin, not neosporin, and a gauze wrap. Your doctor might also advise hot compresses to draw the infection out. This can be very painful, however!

 

[barkley]

op- i hope your son has a diagnosis and is doing well.

spider bites need to be taken very seriously-the amount of damage that can occur from them over a few days is amazing.

a friend was bitten by a spider and put off seeing the doctor a few days-by the time he went in he had to be immediatly hospitalized and ultimatly lost a portion of one foot. come to find out, even though he lived in an area totaly non-native to the brown reclusive, he had been bitten by one. they think it snuck onto some package crates that were deliverred adjacet to the fields his job was located at.

the doctor said if he had'nt been in superior physical shape it might have been his entire foot and a portion of his leg

 

[Magic Mom]

Just bumping, waiting for an update from the OP. I hope it wasn't anything serious.

 

[CharityLynn]

Well its not a spider bite, it is MRSA. He's on oral antibiotic as well as the ointment. They tried to poke it and drain it a bit so it could be cultured but it wouldn't bring anything up. His Dad's household has had MRSA. If the antibiotics don't help then they will lance it and drain it. So I guess its still kind of wait and see but at least we know what it is.

Two doctors actually looked at it. It did look much better this morning. Not nearly as swollen or red and it wasn't hot to the touch at all. He said it didn't even hurt but obviously I took him in regardless.

 

[Iott Family]

Well its not a spider bite, it is MRSA. He's on oral antibiotic as well as the ointment. They tried to poke it and drain it a bit so it could be cultured but it wouldn't bring anything up. His Dad's household has had MRSA. If the antibiotics don't help then they will lance it and drain it. So I guess its still kind of wait and see but at least we know what it is.

Two doctors actually looked at it. It did look much better this morning. Not nearly as swollen or red and it wasn't hot to the touch at all. He said it didn't even hurt but obviously I took him in regardless.

So glad to see he is on the mend! Staff is highly contagious so keep your hands washed, wash all of his bed clothes, bath towels and such daily in hot hot water and dont let anyone else use these items after him until sanitized.

 

[WDWBarb]

So glad to see he is on the mend! Staff is highly contagious so keep your hands washed, wash all of his bed clothes, bath towels and such daily in hot hot water and dont let anyone else use these items after him until sanitized.

This should be taken VERY seriously!! He needs to have his own hand towels, wash his hands frequently (as well as anyone else in the house) and sanitize everything you possibly can. I was the only one in my household who contracted MRSA, but my DD has an autoimmune condition so I kept a good distance and became a germaphobe like you wouldn't believe..

 

[klj27]

Hopefully it is not MRSA but a different type of staph. If they didn't culture it not sure that they would know for sure. Glad you got the meds and hopefully it will be on the mend soon.

 

[Aristocath]

When my son had a staph infection last summer, we used that reddish, surgical soap when he took a shower. They thought it was MRSA but it was just a regular staph infection. He's a ten year old boy and prone to scratching mosquito bites and picking scabs. We've taught him to put Neosporin on any places every night after his shower now.

 

[laurie31]

I also wonder how they can be sure it's MRSA without a culture, but whether it's resistant strain or not, staph is still serious, and I'm glad he's being treated. Hopefully it will be gone soon!

 

[livie1205]

PLease be very carefull....you do not want that to spread aropund your house.My dss had that (his bio mom worked at a hospital) when I was pregnant and the dr wouldnt let him come back to our house until it was healed up....but remember it stays in the blood so from now on when he gets cuts or wounds cover them up.

 

[Sparx]

I'm glad you know whats going on! I hope he gets to feeling better soon. MRSA is a very communicable infection, be careful!

And just because of the title, spider bites that are noticible and irritating are actually very rare. House spider's simply don't waste their energy biting things that they can't eat. Their venom also comes in such small doses that the area may itch or slightly swell, but its very unlikely that it would cause a lasting irritation. It would be more like a flea bite than anything else.

Some spiders have a venom that attacks the central nervous system, but these spiders are very rare and usually don't come into homes at all. They would only bite a human in a rare instance like being trapped inside someones clothes and unable to escape. If the spider feels threatened and is pressed to skin, it may bite out of self defense.

If you ever notice a bite on you, its most likely NOT a spider. People tend to assume that spiders are what bite us because spiders are the insects that we see in our homes. The reason we see the spiders in our houses is because the spiders are actually eating the other pests that may be finding their way in.