Now that the warm weather is here, many of us are out in our yards gardening, sitting on a lawn chair reading, or barbecuing. Kids are rolling in the grass or running around in the grass, through the sprinklers, through the bushes, etc. One of the hidden dangers in our yards, parks, and forest preserves are spiders. More than 500 kinds of spiders in live in Illinois. Some are harmless, others are poisonous. The most dangerous are the brown spiders and widow spiders. The Illinois Department of Public Health has a wonderful page at http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcspiders.htm that discribes different types of spiders and has color images of each spider for identification.
Depending on the type of spider, a spider bite can cause chills, itching, fever, nausea, and sweating. If you are experience severe symptons seek immediate medical attention. In rare cases, a spider bite can cause coma, blood in the urine, jaundice, kidney failure, or seizures. Deaths, in children, from a brown recluse spider bite have been reported.
When in doubt, you can always call Illinois Poison Control (http://www.mchc.org/ipc/) at 1-800-222-1222.
For more information on spiders and their bites:
- Spider Bite. Children’s Hospital of Illinois
- Spider Bites. MedlinePlus
- Brown recluse spider. MedlinePlus
- Black Widow spider. MedlinePlus
- Spider bite fact sheet. KidsHealth.org
