Wexford has been listed as one of the top three places to get bitten by a False Widow Spider after Dublin and Cork.
The False Widow Spider is an invasive species with a detrimental effect on native species of spiders due to it's long life of up to 7 years and it's rapid breeding. They live close to homes and thrive in city landscapes rather than rural areas.
Just last month a Kildare man shared a video claiming he had been bitten by a false widow while on a film shoot in Kilkenny.
The eight-legged creeper delivers a powerful bite with identified symptoms including a large swelling within three minutes of being bitten, sometimes followed by the formation of a dry necrotic wound when the swelling subsides, and inflammation for a few days afterwards.
Dr Michel Dugon leads researchers based at the Venom Systems and Proteomics laboratory in NUI Galway in the development of the world's first verified identification guide and symptoms checklist on how to treat bites from the False Widow spider.
The team are also looking to develop medication to treat illnesses with the spiders venom. They hope to treat sicknesses ranging from bacterial infection to cancer. At present, it is the only laboratory in the world currently working on extracting venom from The False Widow spider for potential therapies.
When asked about the seriousness of the spider's bite, Dr. Dugon commented that "While it is extremely unlikely that a bite will ever be fatal, we do need to consider bites from False Widows as a potential health risk given the increase of this species not just in the UK and Ireland but also mainland Europe and the US."
The hopes for the NUIG research team are to address the growing public concerns about the spider as well as provide healthcare professionals with the necesarry information in order to report and diagnose False Widow bites.
