RI man bitten by brown recluse spider

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. — An East Providence man appeared to have been bitten by a spider that's very rare in Rhode Island.

Matt Ricci told NBC 10 he was bitten by something outside of his Riverside home Friday.

"I felt a little bit of a bite on my leg. I bent down. I whisked it off and I didn't think anything of it. The next day I started to get a little bump on my leg and swelling and redness and it slowly progressed," Ricci said.

Ricci said he did some research online and concluded that he was bitten by a brown recluse spider.

The brown recluse spider has venom that can be toxic to the skin. The spiders are normally found in the South and Midwest, not in New England. Ricci decided to go to The Miriam Hospital in Providence to get treated Monday.

"It was looking not that good and I didn't want it to get worse than it was. I know when the bite you they release a flesh eating toxin and I didn't want to lose part of my skin or leg or something so I was sort of nervous," Ricci said.

His paperwork from the hospital showed the doctors seem to agree the bite was from a brown recluse spider. He was given antibiotics.

"It's uncomfortable but its good knowing that other people, if the same thing happened to them, they would probably know how to treat it," Ricci said.