EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CASES BITTEN BY POISONOUS SPIDERS IN SOUTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA

Xuemin Zhang^{1, *}, Jiangjun Du², Bingbing Li², Xueli Zhang³, Yue Geng¹, Jian Li^{4, *}

¹Department of geriatrics, Shanghai Fifth People's Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China - ²Department of Emergency, Zepu County Central Hospital, Xinjiang, China - ³Department of Biochemistry, College of Basic medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China - ⁴Clinical Research Center, Ruijin Hospial, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

Introduction: Poisonous spider biting incidents occur in many parts of the world, with many different spider species and toxins involved. Currently, the report of spider bite in China is scarce. This study aimed to ascertain the epidemiological and clinical characteristics cases bitten by poisonous spiders in Zepu county, southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.

Materials and methods: A retrospective study was conducted in which 107 patients were enrolled who were admitted to the emergency department and intensive care unit of the Zepu county central hospital after being bitten by poisonous spiders between January 2010 and December 2018. The demographic and epidemiologic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory and related auxiliary examination results of cases were collected, and cases were divided into severely ill group and mildly ill group.

Results: Of the 107 bite victims, 49 cases were male (45.8%) and the ages ranged from 15 to 82 years (37.3±12.9). The most common occupation was farmer (99cases). Most bites occurred in summer and 64 cases were bitten in July, followed by June (21 cases,). 78 cases were bitten indoors and 29 cases (27.1%) happened outdoors. The most common site of bites occurred in hand (30 cases) and leg (24 cases). The local symptoms included pain at the sites of bite (107 cases), local erythema (38 cases) and swelling (19 cases). As for the systemic symptoms, abdominal pains (86 cases) were most common, followed by headache and chest tightness (85 cases), abdominal cramp (53 cases). Besides, 11 and 8 cases developed acute myocarditis and paralytic ileus, respectively, which all occurred in severely ill group. There were not statistically significant differences between severe group and mild group with regard to demographic features, symptoms and abnormal laboratory findings except for acute myocarditis and paralytic ileus with crude OR being 2.22 (95%CI: 1.37-3.61) and 1.67 (95%CI: 1.17-2.38), respectively.

Conclusions: There is a higher incidence of local and systemic symptoms of poisonous spider bites in Zepu county, which demonstrate it is crucial to tell the local residents to reduce contact with medically dangerous spider for preventing spider bite.