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Reports of Envenomation by Brown Recluse Spiders Exceed Verified Specimens of Loxosceles Spiders in South Carolina

Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston (ILF)
Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside (RSV)
Biology Division, San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands, CA (RSV)
Department of Entomology, Soils, and Plant Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC (ICS)

Correspondence: Corresponding author: Ivar Frithsen, Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, 295 Calhoun Street, Charleston, SC 29425 (E-mail: frithse{at}musc.edu)

Purpose: 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.

Discussion: 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.

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