From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@w...>
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 20:03:36 +1100
Subject: Re: [OT]In Defence of the Australian Tourist Industry
Firstly, many thanks for all the e-mails on and off the list wishing my sister good health and a full recovery. She's actually back at work now after taking 5 weeks off. After the X-ray showed the reason for her continued shoulder pain was a broken collarbone, and that getting fixed up, she's basically back to near-normal health. FWIW she's 8 years older than I am, and 5ft 1/2" in her stockings. She insists on the 1/2". Secondly, there's been a lot of posts about the danger us Aussies are subject to from Drop Bears ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H spider bites, etc. Much from the US. Canada. Europe. Honesty compells me to state that most (over 90%) of the literature on necrotising spider bites is based on the US Brown Recluse spider. The US Hobo spider is also implicated, as are other US Recluse spiders. See http://www.srv.net/~dkv/hobospider/necromap.jpg for a map which shows which danger zone(s) you may live in. Note that a large part of Canada is included. "The hobo spider may now be expected to occur in central Alberta, Canada, south and northwestern British Columbia, and coastal regions of extreme southern Alaska." Before Europeans start celebrating their safety, "The hobo spider, Tegenaria agrestis, is a moderately large spider of the family Agelenidae which is indigenous to western Europe that was introduced into the northwestern United States (Port of Seattle) sometime before the 1930's." (quotes from http://hobospider.org/story.html ). The hobo spider is also known as the "Aggressive House Spider." Finally, my sister is one of about 20 people who had spiderbite necrosis in Australia in the last 10 years, and the first reported case of it affecting bone tissue. Compared with these words from the US Centre for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00042059.htm " In 1994, poison-control center log reports compiled by the American Association of Poison Control Centers listed 9418 spider bites........A specific kind of spider was noted for 246 of these bites, including 66 (27%) that were classified as brown recluse bites (there is no coding category for hobo spiders). Adapted from: CD Summary 1995;14(no. 22), Center for Disease Prevention and Epidemiology, Oregon Health Div, Oregon Dept of Human Resources." "Case 3. In late January 1988, a 56-year-old resident of Spokane, Washington, was bitten by a "bug" on her right thigh. Within 24 hours, she developed a severe headache, nausea, and altered mentation. Although symptoms persisted, she did not seek medical attention until February 16,