Mom dies 3yrs after spider bite

2008-05-14 08:36

Sonja van Buul

Vereeniging - A woman has died, three years after she was bitten by a spider, presumably a Violin Spider (Loxosceles sp). The bite had caused her legs to become infected and disfigured.

Andrea Joubert, 59, was admitted to the Vereeniging Medi-Clinic two months ago after spending thousands of rands on treatment for a Violin Spider bite.

She died on Tuesday morning after an illness of three months.

Joubert was presumably bitten by a Violin Spider hiding under the thatched braai area (lapa) at the house.

Became a wound

The tiny red mark, which at first looked like a mosquito bite, later became a wound on her right leg that penetrated all the layers of the skin. She and her husband Eben, 63, tried everything to find a cure for the bite wound, which kept growing larger.

The desperate couple even turned to alternative medicine after a specialist directly told them he could do nothing for Andrea and her condition deteriorated.

Her medical bills amounted to R500 000 but no relief was in sight.

Their son, Francois Joubert, 34, from Randpark Ridge in Johannesburg, said it was difficult to believe that doctors with all the modern technology and medical science behind them, could not save his mother.

Andrea was a diabetic and received care in the Vereeniging Medi-Clinic, but the fluid on her lungs and an enlarged heart lead to complications.

Her left leg was affected by a secondary infection in 2007.

At the time of her death, both legs were badly disfigured.

During her stay in hospital, the dead tissue was cut away from her legs and she was treated with antibiotics.

"The right treatment came too late for my wife," said her husband on Tuesday.

He said Dr GW Anderson, the internist who treated his wife, told him that his wife had died after the blood poisoning (septicaemia) from the spider bite worsened, leading to kidney failure.

Joubert thanked doctors, nurses and members of the public who had given their support.

- Beeld