Man bitten on penis by venomous spider for second time

Updated
Man bitten on penis by venomous spider for second time
Man bitten on penis by venomous spider for second time




An Australian man has been bitten on the penis by a venomous spider for the second time in five months.

The 21-year-old man, known only as Jordan, was using a portable toilet on a building site in Sydney when the second incident happened on Tuesday.

See also: 12 spiders you're right to be scared of

See also: 11ft python emerges from toilet and bites man on penis


Speaking to the BBC, Jordan said: 'I'm the most unlucky guy in the country at the moment.

"I was sitting on the toilet doing my business and just felt the sting that I felt the first time.

"I was like 'I can't believe it's happened again.' I looked down and I've seen a few little legs come from around the rim."

The first bite had also occurred while using a portable loo. He said he had even checked the toilet this time round, and hadn't spotted anything.

According to the Metro, Jordan was treated at the hospital and, when asked if he will be using portable toilets again, he said: "I think I'll be holding on for dear life to be honest."

The redback spider is a species of venomous spider indigenous to Australia, and is a member of the 'widow' family of spiders.

The adult female is easily recognised by her spherical black body with a prominent red stripe on the upper side of her abdomen.

Mainly nocturnal, the female redback lives in an untidy web in a warm sheltered location, commonly near or inside human residence.

The redback is one of the few spider species that can be seriously harmful to humans, and its preferred habitat has led it to being responsible for the large majority of serious spider bites in Australia.

The venom gives rise to the syndrome of latrodectism in humans; this starts with pain around the bite site, which typically becomes severe and progresses up the bitten limb and persists for over 24 hours.

Sweating in localised patches of skin occasionally occurs. Generalised symptoms of nausea, vomiting, headache, and agitation may also occur and indicate severe poisoning.

An anti venom has been available since 1956, and there have been no deaths directly due to redback bites since its introduction.

Speaking to the Independent, Professor Julian White from Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital said that bites on male appendages from spiders were historically quite common, but not so anymore. She explained: "Going back 80 years or so when people were still using outhouse toilets it was extremely common, something like up to 80 per cent of cases of spider bites were bites on the male genitalia.

"Typically they were using the toilet. But it's much less common now, I can't think of a case



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