This Mom's Warning About Her Daughter's Spider Bite Is Intense

As if you needed another reason to hate spiders, heed this warning from the parents of a [...]

As if you needed another reason to hate spiders, heed this warning from the parents of a 5-year-old who developed a scary reaction to a black widow bite this summer.

Kristine Donovan told CBS Boston that a bite on daughter Kailyn's leg looked like a normal bruise—then it turned black.

"She never felt [the spider] bite her," Kristine said. "It could have been in her jeans in the location where it bit her, we just don't know."

When Kailyn's parents saw the spot, they thought she just had a normal bug bite, but when her school called to say Kailyn had a fever, Kristine took her to a pediatrician who then referred them to the ER. "They knew it was a spider bite," Kristine said. "They didn't know what spider bite, so they gave her some antibiotics."

When those antibiotics didn't improve the girl's condition, the Donovans sought out an infectious disease doctor who identified the bite as a black widow's.

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(Photo: WBZ-TV)

The doctors told the Donovans that the 'bruise' was actually the spider's venom killing Kailyn's flesh and if they had waited longer, her condition could have been much worse. They put her on appropriate antibiotics and the five-year-old is expected to make a full, scar-free recovery by the time she starts Kindergarten in September.

Kailyn's parents are using their scary experience to warn other parents about listening to their gut instincts. "If you think it's something, just keep looking for an answer," Kristine told WCVB. "I had a feeling it was pretty bad, and I just kept pushing to have it checked out."

And if this story has you shivering or itching at the thought of a black widow, there are some things you should know about these black, red-bellied creatures.

When a black widow bites, it releases a toxin that can impact all parts of a person's body, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, to SELF. A wide variety of symptoms can be experienced like localized bruising and pain around the bite, or it can cause pain in the abdomen and back, sweating, muscle cramping, and make you feel generally ill, he says.

Other possible symptoms can include difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting or cold chills, and some (in rare cases) have died from a black widow bite.

If you think you've been bitten, the most popular treatment is to wash out the infected area, place an ice pack on it and keep it lifted. Still, it's best to visit the ER to be safe.

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