May 4, 2013

Did heavy metal guitarist Jeff Hanneman — of Slayer — die of a spider bite?

The band's website said in January that he "had contracted necrotizing fasciitis 'likely caused by a spider bite, and has been undergoing surgeries, skin grafts and intense rehab since." He died Hanneman died Thursday of liver failure:
... Dr. Donna Seger who routinely treats spider-bite victims at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee... said that spider bites do not lead to organ failure. But infections -- which could develop after a variety of scenarios ranging from a mosquito bite or even a scratch on the skin from a nail -- can sometimes lead to bad outcomes....

Seger stressed that, on the whole, patients with spider bites recover fine if they follow medical instructions and keep their bite areas clean so that a scab can form and fall off.

"I think it's really important that spider bites be understood because there's so many urban legends about, you know, you get a spider bite, your limb falls off and you die," Seger said. "That doesn't happen."
UPDATE: It wasn't the spider.

19 comments:

edutcher said...

He who lives by the slay...

Cathie Dunklee-Donnell said...

I got a bad infection from a spider bite, but they found an effective iv antibiotic so I didn't lose my arm.
Nevada lawyer

somefeller said...

Necrosis from a spider bite is a very metal way to go. It would be even better if the spider species name had an umlaut in it.

Jonathan Card said...

Man, my mother got that from a spider bite to the face while traveling abroad. It can get really bad, but they fixed it when she got back. It had almost eaten through the bone to her sinuses.

Wince said...

I didn't know Chrissy Amphlett of the Divinyls died.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

Correlation is not necessarily causation.

garage mahal said...

So what's the connection between this and liberal fascism? That's what I want to know. Pogo? edutcher?

madAsHell said...

Quick!! Name Slayer's break-through album!!

rhhardin said...

Spiders mean well.

Even so, women don't like them.

rhhardin said...

I avoid disturbing spiders, thinking that there's always the right number to catch indoor bugs.

William said...

Apparently there's been a genetic mutation among spiders. Their venom now contains an agent that causes necrotizing, flesh eating agents to become active in the body's bloodstream. While death is the most frequent outcome, it is only occasionally accompanied by excruciating pain. These spiders are most prevalent in outdoor sanitary factilities. It is recommended that people who have to go in such facilities take proper precautions......I have a small supply of bootleg DDT based aerosol bombs that I am willing to make available at an attractive price.

Old RPM Daddy said...

Man, the dude was close to my age. Is the type of spider that bit Jeff Hanneman the great big kind or the tiny kind? That sounds like something I'd need to know.

Also, if I ever heard a Slayer tune in my life, I was unaware of it.

somefeller said...

Quick!! Name Slayer's break-through album!!

"Reign in Blood", which in many ways was Slayer's "To Kill a Mockingbird", aside from the obvious differences in subject matter and art form, as well as Slayer's more frequent artistic output over the years.

Bender said...

MRSA

It can look like a spider bite at first. And if allowed to set in, it could ravage the internal organs.

Nonapod said...

He was bitten over a year ago, and by the bands accounts was in recovery after losing some of his arm I believe? I think immunosuppressant drugs are use to treat necrotizing fasciitis, perhaps this allowed for other infections to damage his liver?

I always preferred Seasons in the Abyss to Reign in Blood or South of Heaven.

Bryan C said...

Sounds fishy. I suspect he faked his own death so as to devote himself full-time to his new superhero career. You know, like Elvis did.

ken in tx said...

There was a southern civil war general, whose name I don't recall, who died from an infection that came from him shaving off the tip of a mosquito bite on his face. Of course this was before antibiotics. Cauterization was the only course available in those days.

Rosalyn C. said...

A former neighbor of mine died from complications due to a spider bite. He had been an alcoholic and drug addict for many years. I assumed that his immune system was severely compromised by his lifestyle and that's why the antibiotics failed to work. This story sounds similar.

RBB said...

It's more likely he contracted necrotising fasciitis from "skin popping" IV drugs than a spider bite. In my experience, spider bites are always blamed yet people rarely actually saw the spider or the bite Usually spider bites will simply cause necrosis, leaving a huge wound.