http://www.local6.com/news/5300658/detail.html

Family: Brown Recluse Spider Bit Teen On Orlando Flight

POSTED: 12:04 am EST November 11, 2005
UPDATED: 9:09 am EST November 11, 2005

A Central Florida family is seeking medical damages from Jet Blue
Airlines after a 17-year-old was apparently bitten by a deadly brown
recluse spider aboard a flight out of Orlando, according to a Problem
Solvers report.

P.J. Hart (pictured, left) was recently taken to an emergency room
with a rare infection on his toe after a flight on a passenger jet.

One of the explanations for Hart's foot infection has been that he was
bitten by a brown recluse spider, causing flesh-eating wounds.

The teen said the spider must have climbed into his shoe during the
Jet Blue flight to New York out of Orlando International Airport.

During the flight, Hart said he remembered dumping a dead brown spider
from his shoe after the apparent bite.

"It felt like a cigarette lighter from a car put on that area and then
just progressing, slowly," Hart said.

"To the best of your recollection, do you remember feeling a bite
while you are sitting there," Local 6 reporter Mike Holfeld asked.

"No, I felt discomfort," Hart said. "I didn't feel an initial bite."

One of the country's leading experts on the brown recluse spider, Dr.
G.B. Edwards, said Hart's case could be historic, if true.

Hart endured the pain during his New York trip but when he got back
home in Gainesville, Fla., he was rushed to the emergency room.

"You could lose your foot is what they're saying to me, you could lose
your foot," Hart said.

Officials said the wound and Hart's symptoms pointed to a possible
bite from a recluse.

One of the country's leading experts on the brown recluse spider, Dr.
G.B. Edwards, said Hart's case could be historic, if true.

There are only 12 known cases of brown recluse or similar species
reported in Florida in the last 100 years, Holfeld said.

Edwards said the spider could easily have been brought on the flight
with baggage or clothing.

"Some of the other cases we had were on ships or in cars so they do
get into vehicles of various kinds," Edwards said. "So, yes it could
be. It could have survived. It could have lived for several months
actually,

Edwards has consulted on a series of similar cases in Central Florida
and the brown recluse spider is always the first conclusion, Holfeld
said.

However, the strange infection could also caused by methicillin
resistant staphylococcus aureus -- a fast-moving staff infection that
presents a similar wound and shows up among people crowded together.

"So we are arguing then that even though Hart sees this spider, the
more likely scenario is?" Holfeld asked.

"Is having MRSA," Edwards said.

"Is it showing up in Central Florida?" Holfeld asked.

"A lot," Edwards said. "Yes, all over Central Florida."

"So a little bit of a mystery?" Holfeld asked.

"Well, it's a big mystery," Edwards said. "We really don't know what
the cause was."

Local 6 News showed video of open wound specialists at Florida
Hospital Altamonte Springs working to save Hart's foot.

Specialists have treated infections like Hart's before but they said
his case sounds more like the stuff of urban legend, Holfeld said.

Hart's father said his son has regained mobility in the foot and he is
improving.

Jet Blue Airlines is reviewing the matter.

A spokesman for Jet Blue Airlines said the company follows a strict
maintenance schedule. If the spider was on the plane, it would have
been carried on in baggage or clothes.

"Of course, since we don't have the spider, the mystery continues,"
Holfeld said.