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<p>HANOVER TWP &#8212;Most spiders in the United States don&#8217;t have sufficient venom, or big enough fangs, to seriously injure a human. Still, nobody wants to be bitten by one, so it&#8217;s best be careful about straightening a wood pile or reaching into an attic cubby hole where the eight-legged arachnid might lurk.</p><p>&#8220;Watch out for dark places,&#8221; said Dr. Ahamed Shamsedeen, whose practice is on West End Road in the township. &#8220;And don&#8217;t underestimate cobwebs.&#8221;</p><p>The Rev. Jerry Gurka might add: If you&#8217;re going to walk through grass at night, maybe you should wear something sturdier than flip flops.</p><p>Gurka, who is the pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville, is recovering from a spider bite to his instep that made his foot swell to the point where he couldn&#8217;t put any weight on it.</p><p>The reaction was most likely caused by an infection, Shamsedeen said. While &#8220;any bite, any opening in the skin can become infected,&#8221; Gurka did not have the symptoms of a bite from a brown recluse or black widow, which are the most dangerous spiders you might encounter in the United States.</p><p>The Centers for Disease Control estimate 7,000 to 8,000 people are bitten by venomous spiders in the United States each year &#8212; compared to 4.5 million dog bites &#8212; and about five of them die.</p><p>In general, Shamsedeen said, spider bites aren&#8217;t as prevalent or as dangerous as people imagine.</p><p>Still, as Gurka can attest, they can be painful and problematic. The priest, who has become well-known locally for writing and directing numerous Nativity plays and Passion plays at his church, was willing to share the story of his spider bite in the hope it might help someone else.</p><p>He was taking the rectory garbage to the curb on a recent Wednesday evening, he said, when he felt a stinging bite on his instep, near the strap on his flip flop.</p><p>&#8220;I swatted it off, thinking it was a mosquito or some other bug,&#8221; he said.</p><p>But the bite seemed &#8220;extra irritable,&#8221; so he doused it with hydrogen peroxide and washed it with soap and water. Then he tended to his parish duties, which were busier than usual because of a weekend wedding, and pretty much ignored his foot.</p><p>Early the next week his foot was swollen, and he attributed that to some tendons he had torn long ago when he sprained his ankle. Maybe he was on his feet too much, he surmised, and aggravated those tendons.</p><p>Then on a Thursday, eight days after the bite, he woke up and discovered he couldn&#8217;t stand, couldn&#8217;t walk, couldn&#8217;t put any pressure on his swollen foot. He propped it up and rested it, and the swelling did decrease a bit but, a few days later, &#8220;it was still very tender and very painful, and then it dawned on me, the red circle was constantly getting larger.&#8221;</p><p>By this time the red circle grew to at least 3 inches in diameter, he was feverish and the entire left side of his body &#8220;felt odd, as if something was wrong.&#8221;</p><p>Gurka finally sought medical attention and the wound responded well to antibiotics. As the swelling went down, two fang marks became visible, indicating it had been a spider.</p><p>A month and a day after the bite, after finishing 10 days of antibiotics, he had a follow-up visit with Shamsedeen, who was pleased with the patient&#8217;s progress.</p><p>In general, Shamsedeen said, most spider bites in the United States are not dangerous and can be treated the way you&#8217;d treat other insect bites.</p><p>The Mayo Clinic website spells it out: Wash the area with soap and water, treat it with an antibiotic ointment if you suspect it was a brown recluse spider, apply a cool compress to decrease pain and swelling, elevate the area if it is your arm or leg and take over-the-counter pain medication.</p><p>Seek medical attention if there are signs of infection or allergic reaction, such as difficulty breathing, Shamsedeen said, or if you have symptoms of a dangerous bite, which can include intense pain and abdominal pain or cramping from the bite of a black widow, or a pimple or ulcerated sore surrounded by necrosis, or dying skin, which can be the result of a brown recluse bite.</p><p>But don&#8217;t panic, the doctor said. Dangerous spider bites are rare.</p><p>&#8220;Their fangs are very tiny, designed for their prey, which would be smaller insects.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The Rev. Gerald Gurka, of Larksville, was bitten by a spider a month ago and has completed a cycle of antibiotics for the infection. The red mark from the bite is now about roughly the size of a quarter, about a third of the diameter it had reached. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL071216spiderbite1.jpg</photo0><caption0>The Rev. Gerald Gurka, of Larksville, was bitten by a spider a month ago and has completed a cycle of antibiotics for the infection. The red mark from the bite is now about roughly the size of a quarter, about a third of the diameter it had reached. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL071216spiderbite2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dr. Ahamed Shamsedeen examines the Rev. Gerald Gurka&#8217;s foot, where a spider bite that apparently became infected has responded well to antibiotics. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL071216spiderbite2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dr. Ahamed Shamsedeen examines the Rev. Gerald Gurka&#8217;s foot, where a spider bite that apparently became infected has responded well to antibiotics. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>But any bite can become infected</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

The story of a spider bite