Cool story - Man bitten by worlds most poisonous spider - in UK pub!!

[_TJ_]

Bitten chef saved his life by snapping lethal spider
By Simon de Bruxelles

MATTHEW STEVENS’S first reaction when he was bitten by a giant spider that he disturbed while cleaning the freezer in his pub kitchen was to take its photograph with the camera in his mobile telephone.

The chef’s impressive presence of mind, prompted by the suspicion that his mates would never believe him, may have saved his life. Within minutes his hand had swelled to the size of a balloon. Later as doctors fought to save his life in hospital they were able to send the picture to experts at Bristol Zoo who identified his assailant as a Brazilian Wandering Spider, one of the deadliest arachnids in the world.

Mr Stevens, 23, was bitten twice by the 5in spider which is believed to have taken refuge under a dishcloth after stowing away in a box of bananas delivered to the Quantock Gateway pub in Bridgwater, Somerset.

He said: “It was hiding in a cloth and when I squeezed the cloth it bit me. It was about as big as the palm of my hand. I went to try and pick it up and it bit me again. It landed in the freezer, which stunned it.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1587022,00.html

[Wickerman]

1. I went to try and pick it up and it bit me again

The British equivalent to:

"Hey ya'll - watch this!"

fer gawd sakes - it had already bitten him once and was the size of his palm!

[kenny blankenship]

5. Except if he had not caught it

Then the hospital may not have known how to treat him and he could have died. He doesn't know that it is a Brazilian Wandering Spider (I have never even heard of that before). So he describes a large dark spider to the doctors before passing out, and they may assume it was only a tarantula, whose bite is ususally no serious than a bee sting and which is literally kept as a pet in America, maybe Britain too. There are times when doctors misunderstand and mistreat snake bites and other venomous bites because they don't believe the patient. I believe I remember a story about a survivor of snake bite who got to hospital, told the doctors the snake had reared up and bit him on the face, and he told them that it was a green mamba, but they didn't treat him for green mamba venom because they didn't believe green mambas would or could do that. Fortunately they changed their minds in time for him to live but for several hours they were giving him the wrong treatment.
Catching the spider (despite being bitten a second time) may have prevented him from being treated for only a tarantual bite and could have saved his life.

[Wickerman]

6. he took a picture of it

I didn't find in the sequence of when. You make a good point, but I think I would be dead - no way would I pick up something that had already bitten me once - particularly in this case since he did it to show his friends.

[miss_kitty]

2. I smell a new fear-based ad campaign coming on

for picture cell phones

must've come in on a bunch of bananas...

[_TJ_]

3. Jesus it's hideous - here's a PICCIE

[flvegan]

4. Creepy looking spider.

[giant_robot]

8. Beautiful-looking animal, IMHO,

but then I'm a biology geek.

[ScooterTramp]

7. Yeech!