Reports of envenomation by brown recluse spiders exceed verified specimens of Loxosceles spiders in South Carolina.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the number of brown recluse spider bites diagnosed by South Carolina physicians coincides with evidence of brown recluse spiders found in the state.


METHODS
Brown recluse spider bite diagnosis data were extracted from 1990 and 2004 surveys of South Carolina physicians. This was compared with the known historical evidence of brown recluse spiders collected in South Carolina and derived from various sources, including state agencies, arachnologists, and museum specimens.


RESULTS
South Carolina physicians diagnosed 478 brown recluse spider bites in 1990 and 738 in 2004. Dating to 1953, 44 brown recluse spider specimens have been verified from 6 locations in South Carolina.


CONCLUSIONS
The number of brown recluse bites reportedly diagnosed in South Carolina greatly outnumbers the verified brown recluse specimens that have been collected in the state. The pattern of bite diagnoses outnumbering verified brown recluse specimens has been reported in other areas outside of this spider's known endemic range.
Frithsen
Ivar L
IL
Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA. frithse@musc.edu
Vetter
Richard S
RS
Stocks
Ian C
IC
D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D009336:Necrosis / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000209:etiology; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001098:Spider Bites / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis