Woman Finds 50 Brown Recluse Spiders In Bedroom After Being Bitten

A woman is recovering from several spider bites after she found nearly 50 brown recluse spiders in her apartment in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Angela Wright said she noticed a couple of bumps on her chest and arm when she woke up one morning and went to a doctor who gave her some medicines. A few days later, she was rushed to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. She said she could not walk or move and could barely swallow. Wright said she felt she was hallucinating.

"They said I was forming bubbles in my lungs, which could have caused pneumonia, and they said if I would have waited a few more hours or maybe until the next morning if I would have made it, I would have had a stroke,” she said, local daily WSMV reported.

Wright said she had asked the apartment owner to break her lease as she decided to move out. “We were finding brown recluses left and right, in our bed, in the ceiling, in the iron, in shoe,” she said.

“They said the only thing they can do is give me a 60-day notice and I will have to fulfill that,” she said, adding that she would have to pay $2,200 for the notice. “This isn’t my problem. I came here thinking this was a nice place to live.”

Attorney John Augusta with EastSide Legal said the renter has to prove that the complex is in a dilapidated condition and is no longer safe to live.

“If he fails to correct the infestation, if she’s given him 14 days notification and he still hasn’t done anything, then she needs to file an action in general sessions court,” Augusta said.

“People always believe or think, the landlord’s not fixing the plumbing, I can stop paying the rent. Landlord’s not fixing the air, I can stop paying the rent,” Augusta said, adding that the biggest mistake renters make is by not paying rent.

In November 2014, a five-year-old Alabama boy died, hours after being bitten by a brown recluse spider that came inside the home due to cold weather. The family brought the spider to Marshall Medical center where it was inspected and identified.

“It had the classic markings of a brown recluse”, Claudette DeMuth, director of marketing at Marshall Medical Center said, Alabama Local News reported. “It is a rare, rare situation for someone to die of a spider bite in our country."

In October the same year, a 10-year-old Montana boy died of complications following a spider bite. Forensic examination confirmed that the boy died from a severe infection caused by the venomous bite of a brown recluse spider.

The general symptoms of spider bite include itching, mild pain, inflammation and redness. Pain and burning in and around the bite site starts within an hour of being bitten. The natural way for immediate relief from a spider bite is cleaning the area and applying an ice pack. A paste of baking soda and water can help reduce itching.