This lady I know was telling me today that her mother had been bitten by a spider on her forehead and she didn't know it. She thought she just had a pimple. It kept getting bigger and she thought it was a boil so she went to the doctor to get it removed. When they froze it and went to cut it open a whole bunch of baby spiders supposedly came out. The doctor told her that she had been bit by a spider and it had laid eggs under her skin. Is that really possible or is this lady just trying to mess with me because I'm terrified of spiders?
2006-07-11 14:27:41 · 23 answers · asked by Miss Applebottom 3 in Health ➔ Other - Health
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/skineggs.html
"Myth: Spiders can lay their eggs under human skin in wounds created by their bites.
Fact: In a surprisingly widespread urban legend, a nameless woman is bitten by a spider (usually on her cheek) while on vacation. She later develops a swelling, from which, in due course, baby spiders emerge! Somehow or other, the venom must have transformed into eggs. Spiders, need I say, do not find the human body a suitable site for egglaying, and no actual case anything like this can be found anywhere in scientific or medical literature."
2006-07-11 14:35:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Urban Legend
http://www.warphead.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=205
2006-07-11 21:32:28 · answer #2 · answered by Bill 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
she is just messing with you !! some bugs do lay eggs under the skin but not spiders!!! if you ever in doubt on somthing someone told you go to snopes.com they have thousands of urban legends and tell u if its true or false and where it originated from!!! its a pretty cool website!!! check it out!
2006-07-12 01:37:43 · answer #3 · answered by razorbackgirl95 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am also terrified of spiders, however the story you heard was just crap. i have done some searching on different kinds of spiders and there is only one species that will lay eggs in the flesh of people and that is in the third world country's and only on the dead.
2006-07-11 21:36:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's sadly possible. I saw on a medical channel once the same thing. It happened to an older lady and whatever she was bit eby left a larva to grow and form the lump. They covered the lump/sore with plastic wrap or a sheet of surgical tape to suffocate it. She went back after 2 days and they pulled out a rather large larvae. It was Gross as hell!!
2006-07-11 21:34:33 · answer #5 · answered by catsplayyy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think she's just messing with you. I've seen and had a lot of spider bites and its venom introduced that causes a reaction. Swelling, pain, fever at site. Never laying eggs that I know of.
2006-07-11 21:32:17 · answer #6 · answered by scgleason74 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only case i've heard of something laying something under skin is the Bot fly of South America. It lays its eggs on the underside of normal flys. Once the fly comes in contact with warm flesh (human, cow, etc..), the eggs hatch and the larva burrow their way under the skin. Nasty stuff!
2006-07-11 22:00:12 · answer #7 · answered by Michael O 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You know you hear all kinds of strange things, so I guess it is possible. My mother went to the doctor once because she had a bump on the inside of her thigh. When they cut it open it had a flea in it. The doctor said it just embedded itself in there. She doesn't even know where she would have gotten a flea. She doesn't own any pets.
2006-07-11 21:35:19 · answer #8 · answered by patclem2 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i dont know about the eggs under the skin but that did sound like a spider bite
2006-07-11 21:31:19 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a first... normally a spider bite just destroys flesh.
Left untreated long enough can cause very unsightly sores requiring surgery to repair the damage.
2006-07-11 21:31:42 · answer #10 · answered by J.D. 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋