Horror bite from Britain's ‘most dangerous spider' leaves man struggling to walk & in ‘unbearable' pain
Keith Robinson, 65, says he developed a large, angry inflammation on his leg shortly after clearing out cobwebs at home.
6
6
6
At first he tried to treat it himself using painkillers and Savlon, but before long it became too much to bear and he went to the hospital.
Now he's been diagnosed with cellulitis around the wound, and can only walk for short distances before "intense pain" sets in.
Keith, from Watford, Hertfordshire, believes a noble false widow was responsible.
He said: "It must be more than coincidence that I had removed a large number of cobwebs from the house by hoover.
"So I'm thinking that I've disturbed a spider, and at some point, I got bitten."
The bite, unnoticeable at first, only got worse as the days passed.
He said: "The stinging pain almost became unbearable at times until I was given stronger pain killers and antibiotics.
"The worst it got was the weekend of May 10. That's when I decided it was best to go to the hospital.
"Doctors diagnosed cellulitis due to infection of the bite.
"I was given a blood test and put on a saline drip, before I was released with painkillers and antibiotics."
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 University zoologist.
Known as Steatoda nobilis, the spiders are not native to Britain and are thought to have arrived from the Canary Islands in banana boxes in the late 1800s before slowly spreading northwards.
Keith hadn't realised just how severe a spider bite 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.
"Life at home is very sedentary at the moment.
"It's not easy to cope with being so immobile now and the pain can be relentless without the painkillers.
"I hope I never get bitten again - this has been a painful experience just from a spider bite here in the UK."
Now he's speaking out to warn others to be cautious around the noble false widow.
He said: "Avoid them - check all spiders in your house or outbuildings where they like to live and remove them if found.
"If you catch a bite or suspect one then go to hospital and get it checked out the same day."
6
6
6
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Telegraph
Don't turn new drivers into amateur ambulances
New rules from the DVSA will ensure that new drivers will be tested on their CPR skills in order to get their licence. I would refresh readers on what CPR is, but two-thirds of Britons already know how to perform this first aid function. Yet, new drivers will be forced to undertake testing on the subject in order to do what they took the test for in the first place. To drive. Already, the RAC estimates that the total cost of learning to drive can exceed £2,000. With waiting lists for tests exceeding five months, and an ongoing reform package not expected to take a hold until the summer of next year, these new changes needlessly add extra strains to an already rigorous driving examination. Since 2020, it has been mandatory to undertake first aid and CPR training as part of our school curriculum. In primary school, basic wound dressing and speaking to emergency services is taught, whilst in the secondary stages, rubber mannequins are deployed. Often St John's Ambulance or qualified staff will step in to rigorously teach compressions, breaths, and the Bee Gees (Staying Alive) in classrooms. In extra curricular activities, such as the Scouts, Cadets, or sports teams, first aid courses are also encouraged, or even form part of the participation tests. This is important – heart attacks happen on the pitch and in the pool, and there has been a very successful campaign to deploy 100,000 defibrillators across the UK in recent years, which is equivalent to the number of heart attacks per year. However, we do not know whether adding additional tests for young drivers will do anything to change the status quo to save more lives. Most people injured or killed in a car crash do not suffer from cardiac arrest. Rather it is blunt force trauma, deep lacerations and contusions, and shock that brings passengers, drivers, and pedestrians to the hospital. It is the inadequacies of the health service that is the central problem. Most ambulances still arrive past their targets, putting pressure on drivers to pick up the slack. But CPR, even if performed properly, can only do so much for major incidents. It cannot be incumbent upon drivers to take up the job of paramedics and rush to the nearest mangled car collision and provide the necessary treatment. Indeed, there is additional risk to encouraging young drivers, especially if they're shocked following an accident they've been involved in, to provide CPR. Poorly given CPR could result in battery charges, and could endanger the very person they are trying to resuscitate. Enough news stories about these amateur ambulance drivers and headlines of litigations, it may put even the most CPR-qualified drivers off leaping into the fray. If the Government wants to get serious about preventing driving accidents, they must start with the quality of our roads. Highways maintenance will only rise by £200m by the end of this Parliament, far short of what is required to fix the potted pavements and decaying road-signs that blight our tarmac. Likewise, the consideration should be given to the Government's continual pressure towards heavier electric vehicles (which are on average 400kg heavier than their hydrocarbon counterparts). These monstering hulks, which tear up our roads, and collide with more force, will do more damage to a driver or pedestrian than CPR could possible hope to recover.
The Sun
17 hours ago
- The Sun
Major change to driving tests that impacts ALL learners to be rolled out in months – what it means for you
A MAJOR change to driving tests will impact all learners across the UK and is set to be rolled out in just months. Learner drivers sitting their driving theory test will soon need to brush up on their CPR skills in an effort to save thousands of lives every year. 1 Driving theory tests will include added questions on CPR and defibrillators from early next year, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has said. Theory test questions will be expanded to include "enhanced" CPR content. While questions on external defibrillators, or AEDs, will be added for the first time. Theory test candidates will therefore need to brush up on their CPR techniques including proper placement and compression rates as well as how to use an AED. The changes are a bid to ensure drivers know how how to use a defibrillator and how to respond in emergencies. It is hoped that new learners will be equipped with life-saving skills through the enhanced questions with 2.4 million theory tests taken each year. For example, one new theory test question relates to the correct depth to push down during CPR. Mark Winn, DVSA Chief Driving Examiner, said: "Part of being a safe and responsible driver is knowing what to do in an emergency – how to step in and make a real, life-saving difference. "Learning CPR and how to use an AED is a very simple skill and adding this into the official learning resource is a great way for DVSA to support the drive to raise awareness." According to the DVSA, drivers are often first on the scene when someone suffers a cardiac arrest. Watch Tesla test self-driving cars on London streets as it passes famous landmarks More than 40,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur every year in the UK but fewer than 1 in 10 people survive. But if CPR is administered and an AED used within 3 to 5 minutes of collapse, survival rates can reach as high as 70 per cent. Otherwise, every minute that passes reduces those chances by up to 10 per cent. Life-saving CPR skills may be required in a range of scenarios on the road. Trauma or shock resulting from a collision could cause a cardiac arrest or a driver could have a cardiac arrest behind the wheel causing a road traffic incident. Motorists may also be required in roadside emergencies if someone has collapsed on the roadside. For example, runners may experience a sudden cardiac arrest and elderly people or those with heart conditions could also collapse in public spaces. And incidents could also occur at service areas including motorway services, petrol stations and car parks Intervention can be crucial to saving lives before professional help arrives on the scene. The theory test changes are a result of collaboration between the DVSA and organisations such as Save a Life programmes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in addition to Resuscitation Council UK. Learner drivers must first take a theory test and hazard perception test before they can book their practical driving test. To pass the theory test, learners must achieve 43 out of 50 correct answers. The DVSA also announced in May that three major practical driving test changes were to be trialled across the UK to speed up exams for thousands of learners.
Telegraph
18 hours ago
- Telegraph
The best exercises to fix a cricked neck
There's a reason why neck pain is associated with persistent annoyance. The 'pain in the neck' metaphor rings true for anyone who has woken with a cricked neck and then spent days trying to recover. And while there are no exact figures on the societal impact of neck pain, figures released last year showed that almost a million people in the UK were too sick to work because of back or neck ailments and that the welfare bill for people with back problems alone has tripled in two decades to £1.4 billion a year, and is up by more than a quarter compared with before the pandemic. Of the research that does exist into neck pain, one 2022 study described the economic burden as 'remarkable' and cited data that revealed that in 2016 low back and neck pain had the highest health care spend (£99.9 billion) in the United States out of 154 of the commonest ailments. Despite all of this, it's often not even apparent what a cricked neck is. The term is often used to describe a broad spectrum of symptoms that can include conditions such as herniated discs and whiplash but is generally taken to describe an often-sudden pain and stiffness in the neck that can make turning the head difficult or uncomfortable. Medically, this can be referred to as acute torticollis or simply, neck spasm. It usually occurs when the muscles in the neck become strained or go into spasm, causing the head to tilt or turn awkwardly. Navin Furtado is a consultant neurosurgeon and spinal surgeon at The Harborne Hospital, part of HCA Healthcare UK. He explains: 'A cricked neck is a broad term that can include more sinister pathologies that present with non-specific neck pain and progress to other symptoms. But for the majority of people, it is localised neck pain and some restriction of neck mobility with a very simple cause, be that muscle or ligament strain.' Skip to: Causes of a cricked neck The best exercises to fix a cricked neck Other ways to fix a cricked neck How to prevent a cricked neck Pain relief Causes of a cricked neck Muscle spasms Most cricked necks are caused by awkward or sustained head and neck positions which in turn cause soft tissue pain. In some cases, they can also be the result of minor injury causing localised pain, tenderness and mobility restriction. Arthritis The next most common cause of a cricked neck is degenerative wear and tear. 'This will largely affect individuals over the age of 40,' says Furtado. 'In the same way you get arthritis in your hip and knee, you can have similar issues in the joints in the neck if the cartilaginous part of the joint wears away. This can cause bone irritation and inflammation. The muscles in that area then go into spasm, which is a self-protective mechanism to try and limit movement across that area.' Herniated/slipped disc Disc problems can cause acute neck pain if the nerve inside the vertebrae is under pressure.
