When Taylor Devaprasad saw a spider in her house, she decided to leave it be. But within hours, that decision left her battling a severe infection in the hospital.
"There was a spider that had crawled through my bedroom window," Devaprasad, 29, who lives in Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania, told Newsweek. "And the week prior me and my husband had a conversation about spiders and how important they are in our ecosystem and our household, so I decided to leave it alone."
But it was a decision she quickly came to regret. "I then went to bed for the evening, woke up that morning and had the bite mark on my leg," Devaprasad said. "It was about 6 to 8 hours from seeing the spider to noticing the bite. It was just a black looking spider. Looked like a normal house spider."
At first, she brushed it off. "When I first noticed it, I didn't do anything about it. I just thought that it was a spider bite and it was fine," she said. But the bite worsened rapidly. "The next day it was a little bit more swollen, a little bit more red. The following day it was even more red, hard to the touch and very sore."
Urgent care prescribed antibiotics and sent her home. "Went home, 24 hours later the area continued to grow. I started with a fever, went to the emergency room," she said. "They then gave me another round of antibiotics, sent me home, and then 24 hours later I went back because at this point I feel like I had the flu. I had a high fever. I could not move my leg. I could not walk."
By the time she returned to the ER, her condition had deteriorated. "I was on the verge of passing out. I actually had to be wheeled into the hospital," she said. "It had started to enter my bloodstream and they admitted me and had to do a bunch of different antibiotics because nothing was working."
It is still unclear what kind of spider caused the bite, described by Devaprasad as a normal-looking black spider. But Pennsylvania is home to several spiders that could cause a bad bite. The false black widow is black or dark brown and can cause a bite that results in localized pain, redness and swelling.
While the Northern black widow can also be found in Pennsylvania. Glossy black with red markings, bites are rare but can result in serious symptoms including muscle cramps, nausea, sweating.
Woodlouse hunter spiders and Orb weavers are also found in the area, though are more colorful. Painful but not dangerous, their bites can also cause localized swelling and itching.
Thankfully, Devaprasad is now recovering. "I don't require any more treatment as of right now, but the area is still tender and discolored," she said. "But besides that I'm doing great."
After the incident, she shared her spider bite story on TikTok in a video with more than 16 million views since being posted in May. She said: "This is what happens when I decide to let the spider live. Never again." In the caption she added: "Just ur reminder to not let the spider live next time you see one in your house."
In the comments people shared their reactions. "This happened to me and I almost lost my leg," said viewer sydeneyhi.
While demonbby wrote: "I have never let a spider in my house live."
"I think my arachnophobia is valid," said LeanneRoberts.
Now Devaprasad is pleased that her story is helping raise awareness for others. "I personally never knew the dangers of what a spider bite can turn into, and I'm definitely shocked that the video has gone viral at this point, especially since it was posted over a month ago," she said.