Lateral Science Inverted Three months in Australia

This account of an unfortunate spider attack is from the "Courier Mail", Wednesday the 11th July 2001.

An Alice Springs man who was bitten on the bottom more than 20 times by a Redback spider needed 16 doses of antivenene to survive.

Darren Meehan, 25, believes he may have caught the spider in his jeans during a visit to an outside toilet. It had then crawled into his bed.

Mr Meehan now holds the record for the most antivenene ever injected into a person in Australia. He was attacked by the Red back spider as he lay sleeping in his bed in Alice Springs last month., but he was still getting shots of antivenene on Monday as he has been unable to shake off the effects of the huge amount of poison in his system. The head of Alice Springs Hospital's emergency department said it was the worst Red back bite ever recorded in Australia. Emergency physician, Dr Elizabeth Mowatt said, "This is the biggest bite I know if on record." The most serious Red back bite previously recorded only required eight doses of antivenene.

Mr Meehan said he slept through the attack and it was not until the next morning that he found more than 20 angry red bite marks on his right buttock. 48 hours later, he was doubled over in extreme pain. Mr Meehan is now recovering from his ordeal and the bites.

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