Posted on 11/17/2006 1:05:13 AM PST by Mrs Ivan
A man spent three days in hospital after being bitten by a venomous spider now spreading across the country because of global warming.
The false widow spider, a relative of the black widow, bit Jason Fricker, 34, three times on the chest and stomach after it fell down the front of his shirt a week ago. By Sunday, after treatment as an outpatient the previous day, Mr Fricker, a father of two from Dorchester, was admitted as an emergency by doctors who believed the venom was attacking his nervous system, causing a heart attack.
The creature that caused such damage, Steatoda nobilis, is the only species of spider in Britain capable of biting humans. Although it has been known in Britain since arriving in Torquay in bananas from the Canary Islands in the 1870s, its numbers and range are now growing because of the milder climates.
While it is not nearly as venomous as the black widow, in recent years it has spread from the West Country across southern England as far as Sussex and is now migrating north through Surrey.
Stuart Hine, the manager of insect services at the Natural History Museum, said: "It is moving further northwards and is thought to be in London now. That's to do with the general warming up of winter temperatures because they are able to survive the winter and breed.
"All spiders are venomous but the difference with these false widow spiders is that their fangs can pierce the skin. Global warming means that spiders which originate from southern Europe and North Africa and Asia are now more likely to be able to survive in Britain."
Mr Fricker, who runs a fishery and tackle shop, discovered he had been bitten as he set out his angling goods on his stall at the market.
"I was carrying the goods in a cardboard box when I think the spider must have come out of the corner of the box and went down my front," he said yesterday. "Five minutes later, I felt this sort of burning sensation on my chest like a wasp sting.
"I shook my jumper and the spider fell down on to my stomach. Then it must have bitten me again and I saw this spider fall to the floor and scuttle off into the centre of Salisbury."
Mr Fricker thought nothing of it until the next day when he started to feel unwell. His wife Katie, 30, spotted the bites. "When the doctor saw the puncture wounds he got all excited and said: 'You are the first person in my career I have seen who has been bitten by a spider. There is no doubt about this'."
After identifying the spider as a false widow on a hospital computer, he was sent home with anti-histamine tablets. But the next day, his condition deteriorated. "I thought I was having a heart attack. The pain in my chest was excruciating," he said. "I seriously thought I was going to die, it was that bad."
Mr Fricker was admitted to Dorchester County Hospital where doctors believed he might be having a heart seizure caused by an extreme reaction to the bite.
"I was wired up on drips and was given heart drugs. I spent three days in hospital for being bitten by something I hadn't even heard of," he said.
Mr Fricker, who has a son Ryan, nine, and daughter Charlotte, two, was released from hospital on Tuesday and is convalescing at home.
Doctors say that, in the vast majority of cases, the spider's bite should be no more painful, and the medical consequences no more serious, than a wasp sting.
I was bitten by a Brown Recluse spider in August when I was clearing some brush from my property. Within 24 hours I had a hole in the top of my right foot as big as an egg. The skin just "melted" for lack of a better word. It was pretty gross and I'm thankful I listened to my GF and went to the hospital when I did. The doc said if I had waited another 24 hours I might have lost my foot. :(
That's nasty!
I'm thankful that we don't have much in the way of poisonous creatures in the UK.
What scaremongering utter and total garbage!
The Author immediately proves they are an idiot. It's going to take a lot to restain myself from smacking people who inject this into the conversation.
You mean it's not Bush's fault?
So heating bills in the UK must be getting lower and the growing season must be getting longer, enabling more food production. But I guess those benefits pale in comparison to a spider capable of putting someone in hospital for 3 days.
When the first sentence of an article is such an outright lie, how can you believe the rest of it.
why ? Global warming happens and with that animals and plants typical for an area are changing.
That's a simple fact.
Yes, natural global warming/cooling happens and 'critters' do adjust accordingly. But we both know that this paper does not mean that kind. They mean MAN MADE global warming and this story is just more phony hyped, "we're all going to die" blathering.
Let me guess... you're on Amazon's preorder waiting list for Al Gore's next book.
No I just seperate Science from politics wich you and Al don't.
Global warming caused bananas to be imported to Britain?
If you think this story is 'politically' neutral and just intended as 'pure science' then you really are clueless.
Is there a reason you have to insult people on the internet ?
Those dam illegal immigrants[Spider]!!!
Global warming -- WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! (Or get bitten by a brown recluse spider)
several years ago I had one bite me on my left bicep. It wasn't as bad as yours, but it wouldn't heal. The doctor eventually just excised the area and sewed it up.
Global Warming is Bush's fault, don't ya know?
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