{"id":112190,"date":"2025-05-18T17:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/112190\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T17:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T17:02:13","slug":"horror-bite-from-britains-most-dangerous-spider-leaves-man-struggling-to-walk-in-unbearable-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/112190\/","title":{"rendered":"Horror bite from Britain’s ‘most dangerous spider’ leaves man struggling to walk & in ‘unbearable’ pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

A BITE from “Britain’s most dangerous spider” has left a man in “unbearable” pain and struggling to walk.<\/p>\n

Keith Robinson, 65, says he developed a large, angry inflammation <\/a>on his leg shortly after clearing out cobwebs at home.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a><\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Keith Robinson developed a large inflammation on his leg shortly after clearing out cobwebs at homeCredit: Credit: Pen News\"Swollen<\/a><\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

He said the pain was unbearableCredit: Credit: Pen News\"Spider<\/a><\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Keith said it’s left him struggling to walkCredit: Credit: Pen News<\/p>\n

At first he tried to treat it himself using painkillers <\/a>and Savlon, but before long it became too much to bear and he went to the hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now he’s been diagnosed with cellulitis around the wound, and can only walk for short distances before “intense pain” sets in.<\/p>\n

Keith, from Watford, Hertfordshire, believes a noble false widow was responsible.<\/p>\n

He said: “It must be more than coincidence that I had removed a large number of cobwebs from the house by hoover.<\/p>\n

“So I’m thinking that I’ve disturbed a spider<\/a>, and at some point, I got bitten.”<\/p>\n

The bite, unnoticeable at first, only got worse as the days passed.<\/p>\n

He said: “The stinging pain almost became unbearable at times until I was given stronger pain killers and antibiotics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The worst it got was the weekend of May 10. That’s when I decided it was best to go to the hospital.<\/p>\n

“Doctors diagnosed cellulitis due to infection of the bite.<\/p>\n

Giant huntsman spider lurking in his bunch of Aldi bananas<\/p>\n

“I was given a blood test and put on a saline drip, before I was released with painkillers and antibiotics.”<\/p>\n

The noble false widow is “widely regarded as the most dangerous spider breeding in Britain,” according to a 2020 paper by Clive Hambler, an Oxford<\/a> University zoologist.<\/p>\n

Known as Steatoda nobilis, the spiders are not native to Britain and are thought to have arrived from the Canary Islands<\/a> in banana boxes in the late 1800s before slowly spreading northwards.<\/p>\n

Keith hadn’t realised just how severe a spider bite <\/a>could be in Britain.
He said: “I can work but I am not able to walk very far without intense pain in that leg for quite a while.<\/p>\n

“Life at home is very sedentary at the moment.<\/p>\n

How to spot a noble false widow<\/p>\n

These spiders are well distributed through southern England. This is how you can spot them: <\/p>\n

Abdomen markings:<\/strong>\u00a0They have a narrow white or lighter band around the front of the abdomen towards their head, with other markings that vary by species.<\/p>\n

Abdomen shape:<\/strong>\u00a0Females have shiny abdomens. Male abdomens are smaller and less rounded, but have clearer markings.<\/p>\n

Webs<\/strong>: Their webs are a tangle of criss-cross threads which may become quite dense in the centre if left undisturbed.<\/p>\n

“It’s not easy to cope with being so immobile now and the pain can be relentless without the painkillers.<\/p>\n

“I hope I never get bitten again – this has been a painful experience <\/a>just from a spider bite here in the UK.”<\/p>\n

Now he’s speaking out to warn others to be cautious around the noble false widow.<\/p>\n

He said: “Avoid them – check all spiders in your house or outbuildings where they like to live and remove them if found.<\/p>\n

“If you catch a bite or suspect one then go to hospital and get it checked out the same day.”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a><\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Keith had to go to hospital to treat the biteCredit: Credit: Pen News\"Noble<\/a><\/p>\n

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The noble false widow is thought to have arrived from the Canary IslandsCredit: Credit: Pen News\"Swollen<\/a><\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

The man was put on a saline drip to help with the woundCredit: Credit: Pen News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A BITE from “Britain’s most dangerous spider” has left a man in “unbearable” pain and struggling to walk.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[393,105,426,211,820,50894,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-112190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-england","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-warnings","11":"tag-nhs","12":"tag-section-newsuk-news","13":"tag-spiders-insects-and-creepy-crawlies","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114529916974826386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}