Donepudi Sreekrishna Kanth, Ahmed Khwaja Asif, Stocks Rose Mary S, Nelson Deborah, Thompson Jerome W
Department of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 956 Court Ave., Room B216, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2005 Nov;69(11):1559-61. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2005.04.015. Epub 2005 Jun 6.
An 11-year-old male presented with fever, rash, and a necrotic lesion on the lobule of the left ear. The lesion became tender and formed an eschar over 4 days. The patient developed leukocytosis, hemolytic anemia, and proteinuria, and was diagnosed with systemic loxoscelism from a brown recluse spider bite. He was managed with supportive therapy and improved in 4 days. Loxoscelism is a clinical diagnosis which should be suspected in an otherwise healthy patient with a necrotic wound, particulary in the endemic Southern and Midwestern United States. Physicians should be aware of this disease entity and its complications.