Immunopathological changes after multiple spider bites

Utilizing a panel of immune complex assays, antigen-antibody complex formation in a 29-year-old man shortly after a spider bite was documented. The clinical picture and laboratory parameters were consistent with a serum sickness reaction. Immune hyperactivity was evidenced by a detectable autoimmune serological response. This constellation of findings may be a common attendant to arthropod envenomation.