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Goliath birdeater tarantula, zo groot als een dinnerplate
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Aangenomen de giftigste spin ter wereld, de Sydney Funnel-Web Spider.
Beide mannetje en vrouwtje hebben het zogenaamde atraxotoxine.
Symptoms and Signs of Envenomation by Atrax robustus
In most cases of bites by this spider, little venom is injected and no symptoms develop. None the less, first aid should be promptly applied and medical attention sought without delay. If envenomation has occurred, the bite site may be extremely painful, although tissue necrosis is not seen. There is some evidence that prolonged immobilisation of venom in the tissues may lead to inactivation. Systemic symptoms can develop within minutes if effective first aid is not employed. They are due to the effect of atraxotoxin’s direct effect on nerves leading to the widespread release of neurotransmitter from somatic and autonomic nerves.
Symptoms and signs of envenomation include:
Numbness around the mouth and spasms of the tongue
Nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, acute gastric dilatation
Profuse sweating, salivation, lacrimation, piloerection
Local and generalized muscle fasciculation and spasm, commencing in facial tongue or intercostal muscles, and including trismus, which may necessitate paralysing the patient with muscle relaxants in order to manage the airway
Dyspnoea
Confusion, irrationality, coma which may persist in the presence of normalized ventilation, oxygenation and blood pressure, and may be related to raised intracranial pressure
Hypertension, vasoconstriction, tachycardia and cardiac arryhthmias ? related to release and subsequent depletion of neurotransmitter
Widely dilated pupils, which may be fixed
Acute non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema
Later, the severely envenomed patient may develop progressive hypotension and apnoea. These features may relate to depletion of neurotransmitter.
Veel pleziet als je naar Australië gaat