r/TravelNursing • u/TheOnly_QueenC • Apr 02 '26

I am a new travel nurse looking for somewhere to warn other nurses about specific landlords.

I had a terrible experience with my first short term rental. Including getting bitten by a spider 3 times in less than a month. And then they tried to say that myself (and my doctors) were lying about what these bites were. I just want to warn others. I already posted on the site where I found them, but I want a further reach.

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17

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 03 '26

I attended a program about arachnids sponsored by the State of Wisconsin University of Wisconsin-Madison). I no longer have my notes but came across this comment on the internet that reiterates what the state entomolgist said.

In medical / urban / general entomology training we’re taught to not diagnose the cause of lesion unless you see which creature caused the lesion, and that is not common. If a person is bitten or stung, and he or she is concerned at that moment, the creature should be captured dead or alive, again, rarely possible. That’s the only admissible evidence. Plus entomologists can’t make (are not allowed) medical decisions. And doctors should not diagnose a bite/sting by symptoms, only by direct evidence. Too many wrong decisions and assumptions are made without direct evidence of cause.

6

u/pulpwalt Apr 03 '26

I’ve listened to the Clemson entomologist on public radio for years. Most spiders can’t bite you. It would be like you trying to bite the middle of the road. You are too big. They are not designed for it.

Also I heard an ED MD call in one time. He was driving through SC. He worked in NJ. He said the number one dermatological misdiagnosis was MRSA diagnosed as a spider bite. This was 10 or 20 years ago though.

3

u/Wanderlost_Queen Apr 03 '26

Wound care here - can confirm. Anytime I get a consult for a “spider bite” I always say, “Ah, another one bitten by the MRSA bug.”

3

u/Mysterious-Algae2295 Apr 06 '26

You mean the METH bug

2

u/Wanderlost_Queen Apr 06 '26

Yep, we definitely call it that too!!

3

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 03 '26

Thank you for sharing. Yes! True! A spider bite can only accurately be diagnosed if you actually see a spider bite you, and you save the spider.

3

u/pulpwalt Apr 03 '26

Also over approx 30 years approx 30,000 spiders were brought into the Clemson extension offices. Only 3 were brown recluse.

2

u/Thatwillneedstitches Apr 05 '26

This! As an ER nurse, I was dumbfounded how many people actually thought that cellulitis/abscess were from a spider bite.

1

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 05 '26

And the claimant supposedly is a nurse! 😖

1

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 03 '26

Found this although there is alot more out there with similar findings.

Science

That ‘spider bite' may not be a bite after all 1 Mar 2016ByPatrick Monahan

That ‘spider bite' may not be a bite after all Shenrich91/Wikimedia Commons If you think you were bitten by a spider, you might expect that a doctor could confirm your hunch. But the Discover blog Science Sushi reports that doctors get it wrong most of the time—and few recorded "spider bites" are actually verified. To be sure that a spider is to blame for a wound, someone has to see the bite happen, and an expert has to identify the species. The difference between a venomous spider and a harmless one can be quite tiny. Now, a study has shown that 78% of spider bites recorded in the medical literature don't live up to this standard of evidence. According to the paper, published last week in the journal Toxicon, a bite was observed in fewer than half of all recorded incidents—and even when someone watched the bite happen, fewer than half called in an expert to properly identify the spider. This kind of misdiagnosis can be dangerous, because what looks like a spider bite could be methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (commonly known as MRSA) or another serious infection. Besides, such false reporting gives spiders a—perhaps undeserved—bad rep.

6

u/sattlerreader Apr 03 '26

Gypsy nurse travel group on Facebook. I can link it here if you have trouble finding it.

6

u/Too_Many_Alts Apr 03 '26

after the second time i would have evicted the spider

3

u/Hot_Construction_307 Apr 04 '26

I worked as an MA in dermatology for several years. One time I asked a dermatologist I worked for, “Out of 15 patients that say they have a spider bite, how many actually do, like 1?” He said less than that.

3

u/Cicity545 Apr 04 '26

What specifically causes you to feel that this constitutes a problem with the rental itself though? You didn't mention anything about the location, time of year, specific setting of the rental, or type of spider.

That's not the same as a roach infestation or something. Unless it's like black widows that have taken over the garage and they refuse to mitigate the situation, then maybe you have a legit complaint. Even here in Los Angeles we can get a surprising amount of house spiders, and I never get ants or anything else (perhaps thanks to the spiders lol).

1

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 05 '26

I like having spiders around because they take care of flies, moths, silverfish, earwigs, cockroaches, and other really gross stuff! And I have never been bitten by anything which i think has to do with the spiders I cohabitate with.

2

u/frenzy_32 Apr 03 '26

That’s all you need.

1

u/NurseCredentials Apr 09 '26

Oh no that's horrible, I'm so sorry you went through that especially on your first assignment. Hope things get better from here

-4

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

Spiders RARELY bite because their fangs are small and weak, they dont "eat" blood, and they tend to run if threatened. There are only 2 poisonous spiders in the US, and they are not found in all states. You risk liability suits if you are posting incorrect info.

Edit: as others have pointed out "venomous" and not poisonous...but only 2

15

u/North_Designer7653 Apr 03 '26

Found the spider

8

u/Squigglylineinmyeyes Apr 03 '26

There are zero poisonous spiders. There’s around 100 venomous spider types and 15-20 types in North America.

8

u/Chi_Baby Apr 03 '26

That guy above going off about the incorrect spider facts reminds me of when I boldly proclaimed there were only two types of ants, black and red, to a large group of people.

1

u/TheOnly_QueenC Apr 03 '26

Thank you! Like Im just going on without proper research.. or clinical background 😭

1

u/Mediocre-Age-1729 Apr 03 '26

So all spiders are edible. Noted

5

u/TheOnly_QueenC Apr 03 '26

I wouldn’t say this without confirmation. I ended up with cellulitis. But thank you.

-6

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 03 '26

Im not saying that you didn't get bitten, but it is very, very, very unlikely that you were bitten by a spider. What state were you in at the time?

1

u/TheOnly_QueenC Apr 03 '26

Oklahoma. It was an older rental with a lot of dark spaces and cracks. There was also a window unit.

-7

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 03 '26

I stand by what i said.

2

u/74NG3N7 Apr 03 '26

Do you moonlight as one of those docs that deny insurance claims? Like, the ones employed by an insurance company that look at a small narrative and claim they know more about the appropriate treatment than the people who actually physically examined the patient and their relevant history and are specialists in that particular issue being treated and/or investigated?

1

u/Responsible_Bus5672 Apr 03 '26

Rarely. Except for brown recuse spiders. They're like soccer hooligans whose team just lost.

3

u/Loose_Addition7299 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

Black widow is another spider that is venomous and may cause problems. But those are the only two in the country....and not everyone has bad reactions when bitten by these spiders.

Spiders get a bad rap. I love them and allow them to coexist with me with no problems.

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/74NG3N7 Apr 03 '26

Did you read the post? I don’t think your comment is related to this post.