Brown recluse spider bite diagnoses and lawsuits

Pediatric Emergency Care

Volumn 19, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 291-292

  Vetter, Richard S ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b San Bernardino County Museum   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DIAGNOSTIC ERROR; DIAGNOSTIC TEST; LEGAL ASPECT; LETTER; SPIDER BITE;

EID: 0042970250     PISSN: 07495161     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/01.pec.0000092574.40174.ba     Document Type: Letter

References (14)

1. Selbst SM. Pediatric emergency medicine: legal briefs. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2003;19:44-47.
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3. Vetter RS. Myth: idiopathic wounds are often due to brown recluse or other spider bites throughout the United States. West J Med. 2000;173:357-358.
4. Vetter RS, Bush SP. Reports of presumptive brown recluse spider bites reinforce improbable diagnosis in regions of North America where the spider is not endemic. Clin Infect Dis. 2002;35:442-445.
5. Vetter RS, Bush SP. The diagnosis of brown recluse spider bite is overused for dermonecrotic wounds of uncertain etiology. Ann Emerg Med. 2002;39:544-546.
6. Vetter RS, Cushing PE, Crawford RL, et al. Diagnoses of brown recluse spider bites (loxoscelism) greatly outnumber actual verifications of the spider in four western American states. Toxicon. In press.
7. Edwards GB. The present status and a review of the brown recluse and related spiders, Loxosceles spp. (Araneae: Sicariidae), in Florida. Florida Dept Agric Consumer Serv, Div Plant Industry, Entomol Circ. 2001;406:1-6.
8. Schenone H, Rojas A, Reyes H, et al. Prevalence of Loxosceles laeta in houses in central Chile. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1970;19:564-567.
9. Vetter RS, Barger DK. An infestation of 2,055 brown recluse spiders (Araneae: Sicariidae) and no envenomations in a Kansas home: implications for bite diagnoses in non-endemic areas. J Med Entomol. 2002;39:948-951.
10. Vetter RS. Identifying and misidentifying the brown recluse spider. Dermatol. Online 1999;5(2):http://matrix.ucdavis.edu/DOJvol5num2/special/recluse.html.
11. Osterhoudt KC, Zaoutis T, Zorc JJ. Lyme disease masquerading as brown recluse spider bite. Ann Emerg Med. 2002;39:558-561.
12. Roche KJ, Chang MW, Lazarus H. Cutaneous anthrax infection. N Engl J Med. 2001;345:1611.
13. Vetter RS, Bush SP. Chemical burn misdiagnosed as brown recluse spider bite. Am J Emerg Med. 2002;20:68-69.
14. Weenig RH, Davis MDP, Dahl PR, et al. Skin ulcers misdiagnosed as pyoderma gangrenosum. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:1412-1418.