This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
What is it with Europe and insane spider stories?
The latest comes from the Netherlands, where a Mediterranean recluse spider bite "liquefied" a woman's ear and forced doctors to amputate, according to Live Science. The woman was on vacation in Italy when the spider struck. She initially suffered swelling and pain in her ear and face.
Soon, however, part of her ear turned black — a sign that the skin and cartilage was dead. Doctors eventually cut the dead portions out of the ear, which led Metro to proclaim that the bite had eaten a hole in the woman's lobe.
Doctors later rebuilt the woman's ear using cartilage from her ribs. They also made the most of out the incident, writing a paper for the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery.
This all comes after a British woman found hundreds of deadly baby Brazilian Wandering Spiders in her banana. That woman was forced to evacuate, but in retrospect she seems almost lucky; at least part of her body didn't turn to liquid and die.
— Jim Dalrymple II