The trouble with bites is they are never sure what's made them at the hospital - my hubby's legs which resulted in him waking up and not being able to walk after two weeks of 'oh yeah they are bad bites' was told that they could be lymes, spider bites, adda bites, cellulitis from infected horse fly bites and maybe meningitis, through blood tests it was narrowed down to some sort of venom he was allergic too. So coming from the other side I was really annoyed to have not known there was an issue with spider bites in this country even if it is the allergic reaction that is the problem like with bee stings. We are now months down the line and he is still having to take tablets to stop them swelling up again and ended up on antibiotics several times for them (as they later got infected).
Also the general public tends to feel that this sort of thing is being hidden from them so I'm really not surprised by the media reactions etc... when I read up on how the spiders got into the country it does read like aracnaphobia in slow motion (very slow motion - banana boats and all) but when things are not explained well this is what will happen. It is good to produce accurate information about it but be careful not to alienate the audience that most needs it!
Not to mention the hospital staff often do not think to call an insect expert in on cases either (or don't have the resources etc).
Sarah
On 15 Oct 2013, at 11:00, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Greetings Science Communicators
>
> You may have come across the False Widow Spider furore of late:
>
>
> http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/344612/Mum-s-terror-as-FIFTY-venomous-False-Widow-spiders-race-towards-her
>
> (not for the squeamish)
>
>
>
> http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/343983/False-widow-spider-ATE-my-leg
>
> (likewise)
>
>
>
> Here's a must-see response from Stuart Longhorn...
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHWDaiR30UI
>
>
>
> regards
>
> John A W Lock
>
> http://www.youtube.com/deerisible
>
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