Mystery Insect Leaves Man With Massive Dark Bruises, Baffles Doctors

Mystery Insect Leaves Man With Massive Dark Bruises, Baffles Doctors
Modest-sized Solifugid near Uniondale, Western Cape, South Africa (User: JonRichfield/ Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
NTD Television
7/27/2017
Updated:
7/27/2017

A mysterious bug that bit an Arizona man has doctors baffled after a small bite grew to a mass of dark and painful bruises.

Thomas Jay was taking out the trash when an insect unlike any he has seen before bit him.

“As I glanced at it really quick, all of a sudden I just felt this excruciating pinch, this pressure, this bite or a sting that happened,” Jay told CBS 5.

(Photo provided by Dee Petrov)
(Photo provided by Dee Petrov)

“I immediately went and swatted the bug off,” Jay added.

What followed is still a medical mystery. In a matter of hours, a small bite spread into large dark bruises over Jay’s entire arm.

 

(Photo provided by Dee Petrov)
(Photo provided by Dee Petrov)

Jay raced to urgent care with his wife, Dee Petrov. They have since been at two hospitals, according to the GoFundMe page Petrov started.

“We are still praying there are no long-term affects but there are still issues with the arm and more medical tests and doctors to see,” Jay’s wife wrote on the page.

After Jay and his wife looked up photos of the insect online, the believe that the bug involved was a solifugae, which is also called a camel spider, wind scorpion, or sun spider.

As of Tuesday, the couple of still waiting for the result from a biopsy. Jay signed on to be part of a medical case study.

Even though the doctors are still baffled, Jay hopes his case will help other people who may get bit by one of these bugs.

“Even though they may not be able to figure out what it was, they might be able to help other individuals as they learn from this situation,” Thomas told CBS 5.

From NTD.tv