Original source : http://www.livescience.com
Posted : July 2014
Author : Agata Blaszczak-Boxe
The bites of some spiders can sometimes cause necrosis, the
death of human tissue. However, a few spider species may have been incriminated
in necrosis cases without sufficient evidence, experts say. A new study, published this month in the journal Toxicon,
suggests that the venom of the Australian white-tailed spider - which has a
reputation on the Internet of being powerful enough to kill human tissue - may
not be so toxic after all. In fact, there were no signs of necrosis in a man recently
bitten by a white-tailed spider, despite the man's fears that he would need
drastic treatments, said Dr. Scott Weinstein, a toxinologist at Women's and
Children's Hospital in North Adelaide, Australia, who treated the man and wrote
the study.