Boy, 10, dies after spider bites him on leg during football game

Tragedy: Keith (left and inset) was bitten by a brown recluse spider (top right, file picture)

An "energetic, athletic' ten year-old boy died after being bitten on the leg by a spider during a football game.
An autopsy has revealed that Keith Pierce received a bite from a brown recluse spider as he played flag football on October 4th.
He died in hospital as a result of a bacterial infection nine days later, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports.

Venomous: Bites from brown recluse spiders are not usually deadly, but can be fatal for young children and those with weak immune systems

 Keith, from Three Forks, Montana, underwent surgery on Sunday, but died on Monday morning.
“He was an energetic, athletic, cute little boy,” family friend Alicia Carper Clark wrote on the GoFundMe page which was created for a memorial fund.
“He was great at wrestling, and loved sports and was super active and fun.”
The Yellowstone County Coroner confirmed that a brown recluse spider was responsible for the bite.

Athletic: Keith (seen on the left playing football) was described as an active child by a family friend

The species usually bites only when pressed against the skin, such as when tangled within clothes.
The bite may not be immediately painful, but it can be serious. The spider carries a potentially deadly hemotoxic venom.
Most deaths from recluse spider bites are in children under the age of seven.

The spider's bite can sometimes cause a necrotising ulcer that damages soft tissue.
This can take months to heal and leave deep scars.
Over time these scars can grow up to 25cm in diameter.