Fright over spider bite
A TEN-year-old boy bitten by a deadly funnel-web spider needed 12 vials of antivenene to survive – the most administered in Australian history.
Matthew Mitchell was helping his dad clean up the back shed of their Berkeley Vale property on the NSW Central Coast on Monday night when he was bitten on the finger by a spider hiding in a shoe.
“It sort of clawed on to me and all the legs and everything crawled around my finger and I couldn’t get it off,” he said.
Matthew eventually flicked the arachnid off but not before letting out a “yelp”, his father David said.
“It landed a few feet away from me so I knew exactly what it was,” Mr Mitchell said.
The Year 6 student was rushed to Gosford Hospital where his symptoms worsened. His eyes dilated, he started sweating and frothing from the mouth. He went into seizures before doctors administered the antivenene.
The spider was taken to the Australian Reptile Park.