This little creature might not eat human flesh but it can cause a lot of pain. As was demonstrated when Alex Beer from Britain came across a false widow. After being bitten by a spider, the man had to be hospitalised for 10 days.
Discover our latest podcast
Alex Beer wants his experience to help others and for it to do that, he posted about it on Facebook. He also explained in his post that he hadn’t even noticed the bite and it wasn’t until two days later that his arm started to swell up.
A ‘blistered’ arm and his kidneys started to fail
From then, the situation only got worse.
‘I was sweating constantly and my arm had ballooned with the swelling travelling up my arm at an alarming rate and I felt extremely tired and was becoming less responsive,’ he wrote.
When he got to hospital, Alex Beer’s condition was getting worse and worse. His arm was covered in blisters and the pain was unbearable. The Mirror has even compared his arm to that of someone with third degree burns. And Alex Beer’s life was even at risk because his kidneys were starting to fail.
The doctors had to take care of the Brit for 10 days so as to get the spider venom out of his system.
‘At the hospital, I was placed on several bags of both antibiotics and saline fluids a day intravenously,’ he wrote on Facebook.
Worrying spiders
Spiders known as ‘false widows’ have been creating lots of worry in Great Britain recently due to an increase in their numbers and the number of bites recorded. False widow venom is very powerful, but the effects are generally compared to a bee sting. Unless you’re allergic to the venom.
In these cases, things can take a dramatic turn for the worse, just like they did for Alex Beer. To limit this risk, it is advised to apply an antihistamine cream to the bite and consult a doctor if it becomes abnormally swollen.
Take a look at the video above to see Alex's warning for yourself...