Cutaneous anthrax in 2001 was misdiagnosed as a brown recluse bite

What was said

"And brown recluses are not ubiquitous across this country. So they're often diagnosed in areas that they don't even actually exist, which is wild to me."

Host Erin Allmann Updyke recounts published examples of suspected brown recluse bites later found to be other conditions, including a case during the 2001 US anthrax bioterrorism episode that was initially misdiagnosed as a recluse bite. She argues that clinicians can over-attribute necrotic skin lesions to brown recluse spiders, including in regions where the spiders are not established.