Two dead after venomous spiders invade Indian town

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.news.com.au/world/two-dead-after-venomous-spiders-invade-indian-town/story-e6frfkyr-1226381896416

6/4/12

Indian town living in fear of venomous spiders
Swarm left two people dead after being bitten
Authorities panicking, considering insecticide

A TOWN in India is living in fear of a swarm of venomous spiders, which last month left two people dead after being bitten.

It may sound like a B-grade horror movie, but residents of the town of Sadiya, in Assam state, say that on the evening of May 8 as they were celebrating a Hindu festival swarms of spiders suddenly appeared and attacked them, The Times of India reported.

Over the next few days two people - a man, Purnakanta Buragohain, and an unnamed school boy - died after being bitten by the spiders. Scores more turned up at the town's hospital with spider bites.

District authorities are panicking and are considering spraying the town with the insecticide DDT.

Locals say the most terrifying aspect is that spiders appear in swarms and their behaviour is highly aggressive.

"It leaps at anything that comes close. Some of the victims claimed the spider latched on to them after biting. If that is so, it needs to be dealt with carefully. The chelicerae and fangs of this critter are quite powerful," head of the department of life sciences at Dibrugarh University Dr LR.Saikia said.

Teams of Indian arachnid experts have flocked to the town, hoping to identify the species, but so far they have drawn a blank.

They say it could be a tarantula, a black wishbone or even a funnel-web spider - or it could be a whole new species.

One thing they agree on is that it is not native to the area as there is no record of venomous spiders in Assam. The black wishbone and funnel-web are native to Australia.

Researchers are also still running tests to find out the toxicity of the spiders' venom.

Dr Anil Phatowali, superintendent of the town's hospital, said they had not administered antivenin as they could not be certain the spider was venomous at all.

He also pointed out other factors may have contributed to the two reported fatalities.

"All the bite patients first went to witch doctors, who cut open their wounds with razors, drained out blood and burnt it. That could have also made them sick," Dr Phatowali said.

[Mark]

Web of doubt surrounds India spider attack

A swarm of poisonous spiders has wreaked havoc in a remote town in northeast India, scaring its inhabitants and possibly killing two people.

According to a report Sunday in The Times of India, a large number of spiders descended on the town of Sadiya in Assam as a local festival came to end on May 8 and sparked panic as residents tried to avoid the swarm.

The report said that scores of people later visited the town's hospital with spider bites and a middle-aged man and a teenage boy died after being bitten by the spiders.

The incident alarmed local officials who told residents to stay indoors and considered spraying the town with insecticide, the report said.

Jintu Gogoi told The Times he felt excruciating pain and nausea after being bitten by one of the spiders and his finger was black and swollen.

However, the attack has puzzled spider experts.

Last month, LR Saikia and a team of researchers from Dibrugarh University visited the town to investigate what had happened.

Saikia told CNN that he believed the man might have died from a snake bite, while the boy might not have suffered any bite at all.

"The evidence that we gathered does not support the claim that they died after being bitten by spiders," Saikia said.

Saikia added that the man's relatives appeared to have taken him to traditional spiritual healers instead of qualified doctors when symptoms appeared.

He confirmed that about twelve people have visited hospitals in the area recently, complaining of spider bites.

"Only two of them were confirmed bitten by spiders. But they were ordinary spiders," Saikia said.

Investigators drew their conclusions from questioning relatives of the two dead people about the type of bite marks and symptoms, Saikia said.

Some 20 spiders resembling tarantulas from the incident were handed over to investigators during their week-long stay.

Tarantulas indigenous to the region are not known to be fatal, but about five of the recovered spiders are currently undergoing tests.

When asked if spiders were likely to have swarmed the town of just under 1,000 people, Saikia said "this is just a story ... based on rumors."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/04/world/asia/india-spiders-swarm/index.html