A pregnant woman is still recovering from a brown recluse spider bite that happened over a month ago.
Kendall Butler was woken by the bite. She killed the spider and took it to the hospital with her immediately.
Doctors were able to stop the infection and keep her unborn child safe by using antibiotics. However, she does have a large area of skin on her stomach that died because of the spider’s venom.
Doctors said they don’t want to fully treat the wound yet because of the baby. Originally, the plan was to evacuate the wound and then look into skin grafts once the child is born.
Now, Butler’s doctors say the wound needs to be evacuated sooner. They will wait until July 10 when the baby is seven weeks from the due date. Experts believe she’ll be strong enough by then to be born early, just in case anything happens during the procedure.
A Green Country entomologist said that Oklahoma’s mild winter caused more dangerous insects to come out early.
Experts say people should take precautions against insects while outside, but that there isn’t much to be done indoors but have homes sprayed.
The Centers for Disease Control says that even though people fear bug spray with DEET is bad for pregnant women, it's actually recommended with the same precautions as those who are not pregnant or lactating.
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