Spider Bites

But when you look into the details, you often discover that things just don’t add up. It seems all too easy to blame spiders for bacterial infections.

False-widow spiders tend to cause sensation in the media, but Professor David Lalloo, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine says;

“These spiders are not aggressive and bites from them are not dangerous; they may cause short-lived pain and in rare cases, may make people feel unwell for a day or so, but there is no record of them causing serious illness or death.”

So here are some facts about spiders and their bites;

– Most British spiders couldn’t bite you if they tried; their fangs are too small or weak to penetrate human skin.
– Most large spiders are not inclined to bite a human – you can handle hundreds of large house or garden spiders and never get bitten.
– If a larger spider does manage to bite you, the symptoms are usually like a pin prick, milder than a wasp or bee sting.
– The notorious Noble false-widow (Steatoda nobilis) does indeed have a more venomous bite than other British species. It injects a neurotoxin which may cause localised pain, minor swelling, and in extreme cases nausea within a few hours (but not days).
– There are no proven cases where the Noble false-widow has caused death, coma or permanent injury.
– Its neurotoxins do not result in ‘necrosis’ i.e. the gangrene-like infections described in the media – this results from a bacterial infection which could come from any source including scratching a mosquito bite, scratch or splinter wound with dirty fingers.
– An allergic reaction to a spider bite is theoretically possible, but has never been recorded, even in people who are allergic to bee or wasp stings.
– There is no proven link between spider bites and bacterial infection and there are still no confirmed cases of serious injury resulting directly from the bite of a native spider in Britain.
– Female Noble false-widow spiders are notably sluggish, ponderous, solitary and non-aggressive, they will never run or jump at you in an aggressive manner as some people describe.
– Sometimes venomous spiders are introduced with produce or goods from abroad. Spiders found in grocery areas of shops should be treated with caution.