Meanings
- uncountablemedicineA necrotic condition caused by the bite of a recluse spider (genus Loxosceles).
The loxoscelism was first described in 1937 by the Chilean physician Atilio Macchiavello Varas [81, 82], who demonstrated that L. laeta bite caused the “arañismo cutáneogangrenoso y hemolitico do Chile”.
2011, Eduardo Novaes Ramires, Mario Antonio Navarro-Silva, Francisco de Assis Marques, “Chapter 24: Chemical Control of Spiders and Scorpions in Urban Areas”, in Margarita Stoytcheva, editor, Pesticides in the Modern World, InTech, page 5672 more examples
1978, H. Schenone, G. Suarez, Chapter II: Venoms of Scytotidae, Genus Loxosceles, Sergio Bettini (editor), Arthropod Venoms, Springer, 2012 softcover reprint, page 266, Regardless of the clinical form of loxoscelism, but according to the extension and deepness of the lesions in 89.6 % of the cases they may heal in a very complete and convenient form, within 1 – 3 weeks.
2004, Hernán F. Gómez, Harry S. Wasserman, Chapter 249: Recluse Spider and Other Necrotizing Arachnids, Richard C. Dart (editor), Medical Toxicology, 3rd edition, Wolters Kluwer (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins), page 1600, In a subset of bite victims, serious manifestations of systemic loxoscelism develop. The major life-threatening effects of loxoscelism include hemolysis, DIC, and sepsis. Patients with systemic loxoscelism are admitted to an intensive care unit environment and should receive serial laboratory tests, including a complete blood count, platelet count, and urine hemoglobin or myoglobin.
Origin
From taxonomic name Loxosceles (“taxonomic name for a genus of recluse spiders”) + -ism.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French loxoscelisme
- loxoscelismecondition caused by the bite of a recluse spider
German Loxoscelismus
- Loxoscelismuscondition caused by the bite of a recluse spider
Portuguese loxoscelismo
- loxoscelismocondition caused by the bite of a recluse spider
Spanish loxoscelismo
- loxoscelismocondition caused by the bite of a recluse spider
Cite this entry
loxoscelism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loxoscelism
“loxoscelism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loxoscelism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “loxoscelism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loxoscelism.
Source: loxoscelism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.