Toxicity of the venom of Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae) spiders from different regions of Argentina and neutralization by therapeutic antivenoms

ROTH,A. GONZALEZ A.

TOXICON

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 vol. 130 p. 63 - 72

0041-0101

?Black widow? spiders belong to the genus Latrodectus and are one of the few spiders in the world whosebite can cause severe envenomation in humans and domestic animals. In Argentina, these spiders aredistributed throughout the country and are responsible for the highest number of bites by spiders oftoxicological sanitary interest. Here, we studied the toxicity and some biochemical and immunochemicalcharacteristics of eighteen venom samples from Latrodectus spiders from eight different provinces ofArgentina, and the neutralization of some of these samples by two therapeutic antivenoms used in thecountry for the treatment of envenomation and by a anti-Latrodectus antivenom prepared against thevenom of Latrodectus mactans from Mexico. We observed important toxicity in all the samples studiedand a variation in the toxicity of samples, even in those from the same region and province and even inthe same Latrodectus species from the same region. The therapeutic antivenoms efficiently neutralized allthe venoms studied.