As people return to outdoor activities this spring, caution
should be taken in areas of the country that are home to
Loxosceles reclusa, also called the brown recluse spider. A new
study from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found that when
patients present with acute anemia, but the cause is elusive, a
brown recluse spider bite should be part of the differential
diagnosis, at least in parts of the nation where the spider is
regularly found. In a recent issue of The Journal of Pediatrics,
St. Jude hematologists reported on six previously healthy
adolescents hospitalized for treatment of acute, symptomatic
anemia. The illnesses were linked to red blood cell destruction
known as hemolytic anemia that was eventually traced to brown
recluse spider bites. All six patients fully recovered, but four
needed blood transfusions and three spent time in the intensive
care unit. Only three of the six patients recalled recent spider
bites, and Jenny McDade, D.O., an assistant member in the St.
Jude Hematology departme