Advice on spider/insect bites

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Any clue on this:

A fit middle aged man went on a holiday in QLD 2008, was bitten by unknown possibly spider/insect/etc on his left index finger, was given antibiotics in hospital(amoxicillin+clavulinic acid) which he took for 1-2 weeks. Woke up in hospital with pins and needles over the whole left arm and left leg, legs became weak that he had trouble supporting his weight, legs felt cold and somewhat numb also. No symptoms from neck upwards.

He couldn't feel vibration over the feet. He could feel vibration at the knees but not distal to this joint. Joint position sense at hallux was good. Monofilament felt over the feet.

He has had a mri scan of brain and whole spine, with no significant pathology found. CSF was normal, with normal white cell count, glucose and protein. FBC insignificant.
Patient symptoms has gradually improved since but no one was able to give him a diagnosis.
Anyone have a clue. Possibly a link to the spider/insect bit infection on the finger? Anyone heard of any cases similar?

Thanks~!

 

I saw a program the other night on the venomous creatures of Australia. The overall impression was that only some of varieties of sheep were NOT venomous (every other animal was lethal) and that anyone who makes it over the age of 24 without dying a painful lingering death is beating the odds! May have been somewhat exaggerated for the sake of TV mind.

Based on that profound and in depth study, isn't spider venom a neurotoxin? Would that account for a delayed onset neuropathy?

 

The only place that you are really secure in Australia is on a Quantas jet at 35,000 feet - the land and sea are teeming with really unpleasant things - from crocodiles, snakes and spiders to my own personal favorite, the Box Jellyfish. As an 8 year old child, I was bitten by a spider at home in Newport Beach, N.S.W. - as I was asleep in bed at the time, I can't say what it was but it upset my parents! No harmful longterm effects, happy to say, and I suppose one of the benefits of living in the cool, damp Northern Hemisphere is we don't share the environment with anything more alarming than an occasional Icelandic volcanic ash plume.

 

For those that want to read a book about OZ which is full of facts but very funny, I recommend http://www.amazon.com/Sunburned-Country-Bill-Bryson/dp/0767903862

Bill Bryson comes a cross box jelly fish in Darwin I think. Him and his mate hear someone screaming from the beach, they make their way down to see whats going on. The ambulance is there with a guy who has come incontact with the Box Jellyfish. The guy is making alot of noise, Bill as the ambo is he in that much pain.

The ambo says must because he unconscious and Ive never heard an unconscious man scream before..

Anyway Bill Byrson writes 10000000000 better than me and goes into all the things that can kill you in OZ even the plants. It´s a great read.

I´m getting a little homesick for the land under the Southern Cross

 

I understand urinating on jellyfish stings helps.

Doesn't work for shark bites though. The FUSS that kids parents made! I was only trying to help!!!

Apparently once the leg has been off for a few hours though, no amount of wee is going to help. You live and learn :-/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmAV3svW0QM

 

Sounds like Terry Pratchett's "The Last Continent" to me!

 

I think it is very unlikely that his symptoms are due to an envenomation because his symptoms as you describe them are limited to the left side of his body. Systemic envenomation would affect the whole body not favour one side.

Regards,

David Kelly

 

Don't be fooled by everything you see on television, most of the sheep here can kill you as well.
1/2way

 

ROFLMAO!!!

Yeah, last continent. Top book.