A man was left hospitalised with a flesh–eating infection after a ‘pinprick’ false widow spider bite left him with a hand ‘the size of a bowling ball’.
Chris Keegan, 40, woke up with a small insect bite on his right hand and initially thought nothing of it.
But after it began to turn red, he decided to speak to a pharmacist who prescribed him with antibiotics for what he was told was a spider bite.
Another round of antibiotics from the doctors also failed to stop the redness and Mr Keegan decided to go to the hospital after his hand ‘swelled up and turned purple’.
Within a few hours, his hand was being operated on to remove any dying skin to prevent the infection from taking hold.
He then spent the next five days in hospital undergoing surgeries on his hand before leaving with six stiches and a scar.
Reports this week from BBC Countryfile said the false widow is ‘rapidly spreading its legs across Britain’ after a ‘rapid expansion across the world’.
Mr Keegan, an actor and escape room designer, from Coventry, said: ‘Something so tiny and trivial if ignored could have led to my thumb or hand being removed, or sepsis could have set in.
‘They don’t know if the bite was the infection or if the bite was the catalyst for the infection to take hold.
‘Some people are hypothesising that it could have been a false widow spider but in reality, we don’t know.’
Almost 100 people were hospitalised with spider bites in the UK in 2024 and Mr Keegan’s initially was just the size of a ‘pinhead’.
‘It was just a little insect bite on the back of my hand,’ he said. ‘I decided to go to a pharmacist when it went red.
‘They said it was a spider bite, very rare at this time of year but they gave me antibiotics.’
Mr Keegan became more concerned when his hand swelled up after the antibiotics failed to work and decided to go to hospital.
He said: ‘Just a day later my whole hand swelled up like a boxing glove. The bite itself was purple, swollen and almost ruptured.
‘It was very painful – my whole hand was red, swollen, and warm.
‘Whatever the infection was seemed to be antibiotic resistant. My hand was containing the infection.
‘I took myself to hospital and within five hours I was x–rayed and had my hand on an operating table, and they were cutting out large chunks of puss and skin.’
Mr Keegan is now on the mend at home after his hand was stitched back up.
The bite of a false widow has been likened to bee or wasp stings, and usually result from handling the spider roughly or from a spider being trapped between clothing and skin.
If you are bitten, experts recommend washing the bite with soap and water, applying a cool compress and taking over–the–counter medication if the bite hurts or is itchy.
If redness, swelling or pain does not subside, or there are signs of infection, call the 111 helpline.
