AIBU to burn the house down? What’s biting us?

[LightBe]

My boyfriend was travelling by train this summer and was bitten by something on his leg. (It might be relevant to know that a stranger’s dog was sitting on the floor, by my boyfriend’s feet, at the time).

His bite became infected and required multiple rounds of antibiotics.

Since then, we’ve been bitten a further seven times. The bites have always been on our calves apart from one on my lower belly. They leave awful scars.

All of the bites have required antibiotics.

The situation is starting to feel hopeless because we just don’t know what we’re fighting here and, as I have an autoimmune disease, it’s unhelpful to be taking all of these antibiotics.

I’ve attached some pictures of our bites (before the infection really takes hold and becomes gruesome). Can anyone please identify them?

I've been bitten by a horse fly and it felt like someone had stuck a lit cigarette against my skin (neck) and held it there! Don't know how a Blandford bite feels, but similar i would imagine, therefore i doubt you'd be sleeping through it.

The one puncture or two sounds like a good place to start investigations. Have you got/can you get a good magnifying glass OP?

My friend do didnt feel her Blandford bite, the fly is actually very small, it was later that it hurt, once it started swelling.

I’m home from seeing the out-of-hours GP.

She thinks that it’s a “non-specific spider bite”, but wasn’t entirely certain.

She said that it’s not infected (hurrah!) and thinks the redness is being caused by an allergic reaction to “venom”.

She also said that the red “bulls eye” (ring around the bite) isn’t what you would see from a tick. She said that it would be more “indented”.

Is there anyone here who’s had a tick bite? Does her opinion sound about right (i.e. that a tick bite would be more raised/indented)?

That's a false widow spider bite.

My dh had one, looked identical.

Possibly it stayed in your dh clothes? I'd get an exterminator opinion, hope you find and get rid of it soon.

Absolutely. MRSA is contagious, so if he had an open sore, he can definitely pass it to you.

You say it looked like it was eating away at his leg? That is a classic MRSA symptom. It typically starts with what looks like a pimple or or blemish, and then gets bigger and deeper.

Go back to the doctor. If it is MRSA you need the correct antibiotics beforbit becomes any worse//become too difficult to treat.

Hotstepper - Was your husband bitten at night? Did he see the spider?

The exterminator option makes good sense.

We’re renovating our house at the moment - a rundown Victorian cottage - and money is tight, but it’s getting to the point where we may have no other choice than to spend on some sort of extermination service.

I was having similar when we first moved but weirdly BF wasn’t. I was going insane because I thought we had bed bugs. Mine wasn’t as bad as yours, but very itchy and then scarred all over my calves. Then one day whilst changing the sheets I found a dead spider on the mattress. I have no real advice but I do offer sympathy.

Elphie - thank you for coming back to reply.

Your suggestion of MRSA fascinates (and terrifies) me. It’s something that I hadn’t considered at all.

I asked the doctor tonight if she thought it was a bite and she replied “It’s definitely a bite” (with strong emphasis on the word “definitely”)... but, I don’t know, the MRSA thing is niggling at me.

My boyfriend’s original bite was horrific. The skin on his leg was being eaten away and his GP had to repeatedly increase the antibiotic dosage. He’s now been left with a scar like a large crater.

I don’t want to be a nuisance, but I think I might make an appointment to see a GP in regular hours and discuss this with them.

I really think that is a good idea. The fact that you had a fever also supports a possible MRSA infection. I don’t want to scare you, but sepsis is a serious possible complication of MRSA if it enters your blood stream. It can also enter your respiratory tract and become “air borne MRSA” which is a pain in the ass to treat.

Please don’t let it go. Demand they do a swab of the site to test for MRSA.

MiamiLogic - Honestly, this is the stuff of nightmares!

Did you manage to identify the spider?

This might seem a strange question, but... do you wear pyjamas to bed? I do and have thought that perhaps something is crawling in, getting trapped and biting in fear? Or that my pyjamas are riding up and leave my calves exposed?

Ask them to swab the pus. They can rule out MRSA that way, at least.
Hotwash all your bedding, wipe down the bed. Vacuum. Spray if needed.

No clue. It wasn’t big but not tiny, kind of a gold colour. I normally wear a shirt and underwear but started wearing bottoms whilst this was happening, but like you said they just roll up anyway. I got two or three on my arms too, have you?

I believe it is MRSA.
Antibiotics not clearing it and it’s appearance is quite similar.

There are some false widow bite photos on google that look just like that. The dot in the middle is the puncture would. I would tweet the tropical disease centre in London.

If your bites are responding to the antibiotics then it is not MRSA.
If it's only happening in bed the a forensic search there is needed.Stick all duvets in a tumble drier on hot.Take the mattress off your bed and clean the frame.Hoover both sides of the mattress and the baking powder is a good idea.
I would probably tuck my pj bottoms into socks and see if all that helps.

Not true. Very small lesions from MRSA can sometimes heal on their own and may just be coincidence that is coincided with the antibiotic treatment.

It also depends on the antibiotic prescribed. Certain antibiotics do treat MRSA.

Op- some info for you: www.emedicinehealth.com/slideshow_mrsa_pictures/article_em.htm#

It can't be a spider bite. No way would it sometimes bite you and your partner every now and then. I used to get abscesses that would turn into cellulitus and make me feel ill/feverish. Please keep a close eye and don't hesitate to get your self to a and e if it gets infected. Did you or your partner get much pus, did they burst? You should gut your bedroom, book wash everything that can be boil washed and def no more sock sharing.

Bloody boil wash not book wash!

Book wash sound interesting..... and slightly destructive lol.

Interesting and disturbing; poor you and boyfriend! Googling has thrown up MRSA or the bite of a brown recluse.... if you were abroad when in the train as they aren’t in the UK.

This is quite an interesting article specifically saying how MRSA is often misdiagnosed as a spider bite:

www.verywellhealth.com/spider-bites-vs-mrsa-2633485

I hope you find out soon.

It’s not clearing it - it keeps coming back

He was bitten at a park when we were out with dc. Asked me to check his back as it felt itchy. He raised his top and there it was. He shook it off but it had already bitten.

It looked incredibly similar to that.

Bed bugs are messy eaters which is why you get a cluster of bites. I don't think there are those. Could you try spraying your bed frame with deet?

Bed bugs. My friend had them, the exterminator said they probably came in on a book. Do you have a metal framed bed? Apparently they love to live in the hollow bits of those.

Ghastly situation. I feel for you! I would start with bed bugs and work outwards from there. They are found on trains. Also you say you are renovating the house the upheaval may have flushed them out. I have had occasional bite from bed bugs - they went when ExP moved out and took his huge tonnes of clothes out the house. The moths went too!