Honors Theses
Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Gail Stratton
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
During 4 weeks of the spring of 2011 and 5 weeks of the fall of 2011, interviews were conducted with medical professionals practicing in Mississippi regarding the diagnosis of brown recluse {Loxosceles reclusa) and black widow {Latrodectus mactans) spider bites. During the spring, a total of 19 interviews were held with emergency room physicians and dermatologists practicing in urban and rural, non-medically underserved areas of Mississippi. The participants varied in their location of practice across the 3 regions of Mississippi. During the fall, a total of 5 interviews were conducted with nurse practitioners and one pediatrician practicing in rural, medically underserved of northern Mississippi. Despite claims that misdiagnoses of spider bites are common throughout the United States, the Mississippi medical community was aware of such common misdiagnoses and has been cautious against jumping to unfounded conclusions. There was a small difference in the number of brown recluse diagnoses areas among the 3 regions (5 north, 22 central, 7-8 south), but almost no black widow bites were diagnosed across the state (0 north, 1 central, 2-3 south). Also, the reports of brown recluse bites in the southernmost part of the state contradicted the recently reported distribution of the brown recluse in Mississippi, which claims that the distribution does not extend to the southernmost part of the state (Stratton, Miller, Vetter unpubl. data). A slight difference in number of brown recluse bites was reported within the northernmost region among non-medically underserved and medically underserved areas (16 medically underserved, 5 non-medically underserved), but black widow bites were reported within either of these areas. When comparing all instances of spider bites with the many thousands of patients seen each year by medical professionals throughout Mississippi, the number of bites was medically insignificant.
Recommended Citation
Howell, Hillary Michelle, "Investigation of Brown Recluse (Loxosceles reclusa) and Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans) Spider-Bite Diagnoses by Medical Professionals Across Three Regions of Mississippi" (2012). Honors Theses. 2223.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2223
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