Beware the bite of the white tail spider!

By KELLY BLANCHARD in Rotorua
Anna-Marie Monk had a bad start to the New Year after being bitten by a white tail spider, hospitalising her for four days.

The Rotorua mother was in the North Shore house-sitting for a friend on New Year's Eve when she noticed a tiny red dot on her arm. She thought it was a small pimple and didn't worry until later on, when it started to get sore.

By midday, the pain hadn't gone. "By 4pm my arm started to feel really heavy and by 6pm it was really hot, so I put some ice on it."

Later, she started flu symptoms: "I was tired, had a headache and was drowsy, so just had a couple of Panadol and went to bed."

The following morning, the red mark on her arm was the size of her palm and her arm was swollen. She went to North Shore Hospital. She was given an intravenous shot in her arm, some antibiotics and sent away.

But by that night, the pain, drowsiness, swelling and hard red mark on her arm were worse, so she went back to hospital, where she stayed four days. Doctors told her the bite had become more infected than most bites.

It took her a while to get over the flu-like symptoms but she feels okay now.

Dr Mazen Shasha, head of the Rotorua Hospital emergency department, said there were as many as four people going to the hospital each week with mysterious bites. White tail spiders have a rectangular body shape and a white-grey spot on their tail end. The spider is reasonably common in the North Island.

They prefer dark cool environments and are often found on the inside of drapes, inside on the upper walls near the ceiling, in bedrooms and also in bathrooms.

A number of the bites occur when people sit on the spiders or when they drop from the ceiling at night.

The spiders get a fright, then bite in an attempt to protect themselves. The spider venom is usually mixed with stomach contents and a bite may lead to infection, so it is wise to seek medical advice.