{"id":20930,"date":"2022-10-05T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=20296"},"modified":"2022-10-05T17:17:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T15:17:17","slug":"are-false-widow-spiders-a-danger-to-children","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/are-false-widow-spiders-a-danger-to-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Are false widow spiders a danger to children?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Stuart Blackman\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 05 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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In the autumn of 2018, the London borough of Newham found itself in the grip of an epidemic. Schools were closed, flats evacuated and buildings fumigated. On the face of it, it was an epidemic of spiders \u2013 venomous, invasive spiders from foreign shores. But one could alternatively see it as an epidemic of arachnophobia.<\/p>\n

In the last few years, false widow spiders have been blamed for necrotic sores and bacterial infections. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
The spider concerned is the noble false widow, a relation of the infamous black widow. First recorded in southern England in 1879, probably having arrived on boats from the Canaries, it has since lurked unobtrusively in cupboards, meter boxes and other dark corners, and quietly spread north to South Wales and Lincolnshire. Only in the last few years has it been making headlines, its bites being blamed for necrotic sores and bacterial infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always someone who can profit from creating a scare,\u201d says Matt Shardlow, chief executive of Buglife<\/a>. \u201c\u2018Dangerous spiders\u2019 sell papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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