A WOMAN who has lived in Australia for the past five years and never had any animal altercations was bitten by a spider in Hagley, just ten days after arriving back in England.
Judith Bunce, 50, who is originally from Hagley but now lives in Canberra, Australia, visited the village for a month-long break to see her mum.
Ten days into her holiday she noticed three lumps on her right leg.
To begin with she dismissed the lumps but then began to feel sick, dizzy and her leg started to swell – on visiting the local GP she was told it looked like a ‘classic spider bite’ and she would be facing a lengthy recovery.
Before her trip to England, the mum-of-three had spent four months travelling round Australia in a caravan with her family, camping along the East Coast and in such places as Ayers Rock and Darwin.
She said: “I have seen snakes, jellyfish and even stood next to crocs and I have never been bitten by anything.
“Never in a million years did I ever think I would be bitten by a flesh-eating spider in the sleepy village of Hagley.
“I had woken up and just felt like something had bitten me. I didn’t feel it when it happened, or even notice it or see it.
“As the lumps were on the bone and near the vein that goes to my heart, the pharmacist told me to go to the doctor right away.
“I put it off but my leg started to become scabby and horrid. It was infected.”
After a few days on antibiotics with no change, Judith visited Hagley Surgery where a nurse diagnosed the three lumps as a spider bite.
“She wasn’t a 100 per cent sure but it is common at this time of year as spiders are coming out of the cold.
“She put me back on antibiotics and covered my leg with a paste bandage – I have a follow-up appointment before I fly home next week,” she added
Judith thinks she was bitten after disturbing a spider whilst clearing out boxes in her mum’s house.
She said: “I came here to visit my elderly mum, but it was me who ended up needing hospital treatment.
“Beware people of England, beware.”
