Bay's Next Top Model's spider bite

New Zealand's Next Top Model finalist Lauren Bangs is nursing a throbbing foot after a suspected white-tail spider bite.
The 17-year-old initially thought she had been bitten by a mosquito, but after weeks of pain sought medical treatment and was told it was most likely a spider bite.
The painful bite got worse every day.
"It was sort of like the skin from my toe and surrounding area started to become really fragile. It was bleeding every day for about a week.
"I would wake up and have the pain in my foot. It was throbbing every day almost all day. I just had to try and ignore it because it was there all the time.
"For quite a few weeks I didn't know what it was."
The bite, on the middle toe of her left foot, was so painful that paracetamol and ibuprofen did nothing to relieve it.
The Tauranga Girls' College student found it painful to walk for two to three weeks.
After going to the doctor she was prescribed antibiotics a few days ago but the injury has so far failed to improve.
"I haven't noticed a difference. It should hopefully be better by Monday or Tuesday, it should have cleared up a bit."
She didn't feel the bite at the time it happened but suspects she was bitten at her Maungatapu home, possibly in the garden.
"I'm not entirely sure because I literally just found this bite-looking thing on my toe. For quite a few weeks I didn't know what it was exactly."
But Lauren is now convinced the culprit was a white-tail spider.
"I'm pretty sure it was a white-tail - I've never been bitten that bad before."
Lauren, who signed a contract with Sara Tetro's agency 62 Models, is hoping to pursue a career in modelling. It was fortunate the bite was not on her face, she said.
Last year, the Bay of Plenty Times reported on a string of suspected white-tail spider bites.
A Bay of Plenty District Health Board spokeswoman said at the time that nurses saw many patients suffering from spider bites but only a few were from white-tail spiders. People tended to assume any bite was from a white-tail spider, she said.
International entomologist Ruud Kleinpaste said, contrary to popular belief, white-tail spiders were not venomous in any way. Infections like those described came from bacteria the spiders carried.
White-tail spiders

Are dark grey, about 12-17mm long and readily recognised by their elongated body form and a distinctive white patch on the end of the abdomen.
White-tail spiders are not venomous but can carry highly infectious bacteria.
The Ministry of Health is yet to confirm a single white-tail bite in New Zealand, because bitten people do not take the spiders with them to the doctor.
- Source: Ruud Kleinpaste and landcareresearch.co.nz