Violin spider, how to recognize it and what to do in case of a bite –

The violin spider has been in the spotlight since a 23-year-old man died after being bitten by the arachnid. It has been much talked about today since the news of the young man’s death after a month of agony and a necrotic leg was released. “The violin spider bite is a fairly frequent event, we are talking about several dozen cases a year, but death as a consequence is rare and extraordinary”, Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases and full professor at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome, explained to Adnkronos Salute. How to recognize it? This is the question that many are asking themselves. As the Niguarda Hospital in Milan reminds us, the typical violin spider is yellow-brown, with long legs. Its size varies between 7 mm and 9 mm.

In Italy, the arachnid lives mostly indoors during the winter season. In summer, however, it can also be found outdoors. According to an article in Adnkronos, a bite from the violin spider “initially presents no symptoms. Then, redness with itching and tingling appears. Within 2-3 days, the situation can radically worsen, to the point of ulcers forming on the wound in which anaerobic bacteria can proliferate. The bitten subject can have fever and skin rash, with a course that in theory can lead to muscle damage, kidney lesions and hemorrhages”. “It is a nocturnal animal that bites only to defend itself. We are sorry for the young man who died after a month of agony, his death is an extraordinary event”: this is what Eleonora Nucera, professor of Allergology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, confessed.

The bite of this arachnid “carried germs into the young man’s body that were not eradicated and the infection probably turned into septicemia”. At the Gemelli Poison Control Centre “more than requests for bites from the violin spider we register allergies from wasps and bees, it is no coincidence that we are a reference centre in Italy. Just think that 3 percent of the population that is stung by bees or wasps turns to us”, he said. Among the remedies, “if you are bitten by the violin spider – Nucera specified – it is necessary to wash the spot where you were bitten well, pay attention to swelling, redness and pain. If the situation worsens, contact your doctor or the emergency room”.