NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- The state medical examiner has ruled that a 5-year-old boy's death was the result of a bite by a poisonous brown recluse spider.
Nicholas Robinson was bitten while playing outside his home about 70 miles south of Nashville on July 29.
The child was taken to a doctor, who determined he was suffering from a virus rather than a bite. However, the child that night was rushed to a hospital, where his symptoms included hypersalivation, sweating and neurological problems before he died, according to the medical examiner's report, completed Thursday.
"In about the last 30 or 40 years, I was only able to find about six deaths related to bites proving to be from a brown recluse spider," said Dr. Bruce Levy, the medical examiner.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/10/08/spider.bite.ap/index.html
Nicholas Robinson was bitten while playing outside his home about 70 miles south of Nashville on July 29.
The child was taken to a doctor, who determined he was suffering from a virus rather than a bite. However, the child that night was rushed to a hospital, where his symptoms included hypersalivation, sweating and neurological problems before he died, according to the medical examiner's report, completed Thursday.
"In about the last 30 or 40 years, I was only able to find about six deaths related to bites proving to be from a brown recluse spider," said Dr. Bruce Levy, the medical examiner.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/10/08/spider.bite.ap/index.html