Spider blamed in man's death
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By MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - An 82-year-old retiree died at Raleigh Community Hospital last week after suffering the poisonous bite of a brown recluse spider, probably in his back yard or garage, his family said.
The spindly-legged arachnids with telltale, violin-shaped markings on their heads are not uncommon in North Carolina. As their name suggests, they are shy creatures that nest amid musty stacks of plywood or roller skates stored in attic corners. Unlike web-dwelling cousins, they spin only enough silk to build small hovels and emerge to hunt prey on foot: one reason nature armed them with venom strong enough to dissolve human flesh.
Modern medicine offers no instant remedy. If treated early, doctors can save skin and muscle around the bite, but damaged areas may require reconstructive surgery.
Deaths have been rare and bites sporadic. Two years ago, a construction worker won an $18,000 workers' compensation claim after he was bitten on the job near Charlotte. A decade earlier, the Rev. Billy Graham was hospitalized with a bite doctors traced to his Western North Carolina home.
When John P. Krider of North Raleigh arrived at a clinic Jan. 3, perhaps a week after being bitten, his bite was inflamed and hot to the touch. A week later, he had surgery at Raleigh Community Hospital.
Daughter Robin Van Vliet recalled how scared her father became as he watched the infection spread past his knee like the black stain of frostbite. By Jan. 26 the infection had spread to major organs, and he died.
"I think people really need to be warned about it, because once you let this bite go there's nothing you can do about it," said Van Vliet, a manager with IBM who lives in North Raleigh.
Her father and mother, Margaret D. Krider, 85, moved to Raleigh from Sunnyvale, Calif., last year to be closer to Van Vliet, their only child. Krider, a retired mechanical engineer, was quite healthy; he walked on his own and was still driving.
"No one, no one in their wildest imagination thought he would die from this," Van Vliet said.
Experts say brown recluse bites are rarely deadly and sightings of the spiders also are rare. In 17 years of gathering and observing the state's spiders, medical entomologist Barry R. Engber said he has only collected brown recluses once, while fetching chicken feed from a shed in coastal Onslow County.
Engber, who works with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the brown recluse is not as prevalent as its look-alike, the wolf spider, or a poisonous relative with its own signature markings, the black widow. No matter which eight-legged predator is responsible for a bite, he urged those that fall victim to seek treatment immediately.
As Van Vliet said, the solution to preventing fatalities is not avoiding the garden or garage: "It's just awareness of what the bite looks like and getting it treated."
Staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske can be reached at 829-4884 or .