Well, I tried sending my questions to Dale (who wrote the long
Black Recluse Story), but the male bounced.

[for those of you on sci.med: this was a thread last year
 about the effects of being bitten by a Brown Recluse. If
 you'd like to refresh your memory you can find a long
 posting in <misc.rural> under "spiders".

Synopsis:

Dale was bitten, and fought the effects for close to a month. The
end result was having a chuck of skin surgically removed.

Can anyone offer up explanations to my questions [below]?

  hi dale;

  I read the account of your tangle with a brown recluse.

  I don't doubt you, but I find it unbelievable that one little
  bite continues to attack "you" for days afterwards. I mean,
  I got bit by a red ant. It stung for quite a while, and by
  night time was damn irritating. A six-pack of Coors refocused
  my mind, and the next morning it was all forgotten about.

  Do you know what is in the toxin that allows it to continuously
  attack your body?

  Why isn't it "neutralized" in a day or two?

  And last but not least:

  Now that you've been bitten by one, if it happens again, did
  you ask the doctor if they can hack out the little spot where
  you've been bitten - right away - and save you from a month of
  agony?

--
Tony J. Podrasky    I have a fox fur coat: It's beautiful! -  It's warm, it's

San Diego , Ca      and nips at you. You see, it's being worn by the original
QSL? QRU? QRZ?      owner - which is the way it should be. - tony j. podrasky

A friend of mine was bitten several years ago by a spider
in his woodpile, the doctor suspected a brown recluse,
altho the spider was not observed by the victim.

The bite created a fairly large area of damaged skin on his
hand (perhaps 1.5 x 3 inch ) reddish-blue hue.  The
damage is still quite noticeable three years later.

The brown recluse normally is found in central California,
but could exist in San Diego, altho I've never spotted
one.  I think that the recluse is considered the most
dangerous of all North American spiders - is this the case?

I'm not sure why it is so unbelieveable that the effects of a bite by the most
dangerous spider in North America could last more than a couple of days...
The venom secreted by the Brown Recluse (Loxosceles reclusa) contains a number
of toxic peptides that act as enzymes to degrade the tissue it comes into
contact with, often resulting in necrosis locally and occasionally in more seve
re systemic effects. It is capable of inducing death, usually in children, and
kills a few people in the US each year. Gee, I can't remember the last time I
heard of a red ant causing such problems. Maybe for a Brown Recluse, a CASE of
Coors will do the trick...

JD VanHoose