Emergency. 2016; 4 (4): 169-170

LET TER

Tarantula Bite in Iran; a Letter to the Editor
Hossein Sanaei-Zadeh1∗

1. Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

Received: October 2015; Accepted: November 2015

Cite this article as: Sanaei-Zadeh H. Tarantula bite in Iran; a letter to the editor. Emergency. 2016; 4(4):169-170.

Figure 1: Tarantula; picture from Wikipedia.

Dear Editor

I read with great interest the case report titled “Periumbili-

cal pain with radiation to both legs following tarantula bite;

a case report” published in Emergency journal (1). The au-

thors introduce a male patient presenting with periumbili-

cal pain radiating to both legs. They performed paraclinical

evaluations to rule out large vessel insult and herniated disk;

however, he discharged himself against medical advice and

was re-admitted after 24 hours with right leg swelling and

erythema. This time, several bite-like sites were detected on

his leg. The authors expected the patient’s signs and symp-

toms to be due to the tarantula bites. It should be mentioned

∗Corresponding Author: Hossein Sanaei-Zadeh; Medical School, Shiraz Uni-
versity of Medical Sciences, Emergency Room/Division of Medical Toxicology,
Hazrat Ali-Asghar (p) Hospital, Meshkinfam Street, 7143918796 Shiraz, Iran, e-
mail: sanaiezadeh@sums.ac.ir .

Figure 2: Solifugid or rotailas as called in Iran; picture from

Wikipedia.

that to date, no study has reported the existence of taran-

tula species in Iran, where they are mistakenly named Ro-

tails (in Persian) (Figure 1). Tarantulas are from the thera-

phosidae family. They are big and hairy and as the authors

mentioned since they are not dangerous, they are even con-

sidered as pets (2). Tarantula spiders are not medically im-

portant except for some very limited species, which do not

exist in Iran. Solifugae -or rotails as they are called in Iran-

are in fact another group of animals also called camel spiders

(Figure 2). They are also venom-free and generally cause sec-

ondary infections in the site of their bites. Thus, it seems that

the patient’s signs and symptoms cannot be due to the rotail

or tarantula bites.

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H. Sanaei-Zadeh 170

References

1. Pouraghaei M, Shams Vahdati S, Mashhadi I, Mah-

moudieh T. Periumbilical Pain with Radiation to Both

Legs Following Tarantula Bite; a Case Report. Emergency.

2015;3(3):120-1

2. de Haro L, Jouglard J. The dangers of pet tarantulas: ex-

perience of the Marseilles Poison Centre. Clin Toxicol.

1998;36(1-2):51-3.

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	References