“I felt a spider go down my leg,” recalls Laudiney Marmol, a firefighter from Joinville, north of Santa Catarina. In January, he was bitten by a poisonous insect. After the accident, the lifeguard had an infection in his limb and is unable to work. Now he asks for help in treatment.

A firefighter was bitten by a brown spider – Photo: Personal archive / ND

Laudinei says that the accident with the brown spider, which is poisonous, happened in the house where he lives, in Araquari, with his wife and two children.

“I went to the laundry room behind the house to put clothes in the car and I felt a spider crawling up my leg,” the firefighter recalls.

Laudineus was bitten by a small brown spider. According to the São Paulo State Department of Health, this species of arachnid is about 3 centimeters in size and easily adapts to human habitation. It hides among building materials, furniture, paintings, baseboards, or items stored in warehouses, garages, basements, and other places with little light and movement.

According to Denise Vilariño Tamburgi, technical director of the Butantan Institute’s Immunochemistry Laboratory, the brown spider’s bite is painless and local reactions occur immediately. Victims usually seek help only when skin damage has already been established. “Tissue necrosis is not only the result of the action of the poison, but also a cascade of reactions in the body itself, triggered by the main protein of the toxin,” says Tamburgi*.

“I saw a spider on my leg on January 10, but I started feeling symptoms on January 12 when I went to the polyclinic in Araquari,” he says.

After the bite, the firefighter still picked up the bacterium, which settled in the wound and caused necrosis of the limb. Now Laudinei needs to take medication and undergo a course of treatment.

The evolution of Laudinea’s injuries – Photo: Personal archive / ND

The firefighters were suspended from their duties due to their injuries. In addition to working for the Joinvilense Corporation, he and his wife made lunch boxes, and the rescuer was responsible for the delivery.

“Now we have lost two of our sources of income. I am away from my activities and awaiting the INSS examination, which was only scheduled for May 15, ”says Laudinei.

With a steady income and medicine to buy, the firefighter’s neighbor was the one who set up an online crowdfunding campaign to help the rescuer. “I ask each of you to help, especially to buy a medicine that costs 70 reais for a box of only 10 pills,” he explains.

To help, simply send some money to the Pix key 07241868919 or make a donation through the Vakinha website.

*According to Agência Brasil.