From Yahoo.uk: 20 Jan. 2009
Spider bite puts woman in hospital
A 52-year-old grandmother has told how she spent more than 24 hours on a life support machine after being bitten by a deadly spider. Lyn Mitchell woke up struggling for breath when she was bitten on the chest while in bed at her home in Egremont, Cumbria.
The culprit was thought to be a false black widow - Steatoda grossa - which usually causes blistering and a general malaise lasting for several days.
Mrs Mitchell said: "I suddenly woke up in severe pain. I just jumped out of bed, pulled the duvet and sheets back and saw a spider running all over the other side of the bed.
"It was tiny, black and shiny and it ran so quick - I have never seen anything move so fast. I didn't try and kill it because I felt so ill.
"If I hadn't been put on the life support machine I think I would have died."
Pest controllers from Copeland Borough Council sprayed her home and Mrs Mitchell said she found the spider dead behind her bedroom door several days later.
She said the Natural History Museum told her it was the worst case of its kind they had come across.
From the Belfast Telegraph: 16 Oct. 2008
Poisonous spiders hitch a ride to Ulster
A venomous huntsman spider has found its way into Northern Ireland by hitching a lift on a rally car imported from Australia.
The arachnid, which resembles a flattened tarantula, was brought to the Agri Food and Biosciences Insititute (AFBI) in Newforge Lane in Belfast for identification by a pest control firm hired to clear the car out.
Invertebrate expert Dr Archie Murchie of AFBI said several foreign spiders have found their way into Northern Ireland lately, but insists there is little likelihood of them establishing colonies.
This is in contrast to the situation in southern England where rising temperatures have sparked calls to scientists from worried householders who have found alien spiders in their homes and gardens.
One such species, the false black widow (Steadota paykuliana) was once found only on rare occasions in imported goods but has now colonised in the Plymouth area.
Another example of the same species was found in Northern Ireland two weeks ago. A Warrenpoint pensioner who found it lurking in a bunch of grapes brought the live false black widow to the AFBI laboratory by bus.
Imported fruit is a well known route for alien species to reach Northern Ireland but less predictable was the banded huntsman or giant crab spider from Australia which was carried in on an imported rally car.
Dr Murchie said the spider had found its way into the car while the vehicle was sitting in the Outback.
"My colleague Stephen Jess dealt with the query. It looks like a flattened tarantula - it's a very fast moving spider. It come in to us through a pest control firm. A guy who was interested in rallying had brought in a vehicle that had those spiders in the car," he said.
"Although quite vicious looking, the huntsman is generally non-aggressive, although it can give a nasty bite if provoked. They'll give you a bite but they are not one of the really toxic spiders that are life threatening.
"The second is a false black widow spider which came in on grapes. The bite is not fatal but can be painful. According to the Natural History Museum website, the bite itself is not usually felt but, within a short space of time, a local burning sensation is followed by radiating pain which is far more severe than a bee or wasp sting."
Another false black widow was found in Northern Ireland in June when it crawled out of a bunch of red grapes bought in a supermarket.
"We've certainly had a raft of them coming in at the minute. Whether that is a wee blip or a long term, I don't know," Dr Murchie said.
"With invasive species in general, you find that with global warning insects are surviving longer in winter so we're seeing a change in distribution. Some of the species we wouldn't have expected to find established in the past are now beginning to get a bit of a foothold in the UK as they extend their range.
"But it's probably a wee bit too cold in Northern Ireland for these spiders. The climate in the south of England is quite different to here."
Meanwhile, the prize for the most unpredictable invasion route goes to the American freshwater flatworm (Phagocata woodworthi) which is thought to have been introduced into Loch Ness on monster hunting equipment.
One spider species spreading across England is Segestria florentina, or the tube web spider. It used to be limited to east London's docks and ports on the South Coast but can now be found as far as the Midlands.
Unlike native spiders, it can become aggressive when cornered and, although not venomous, has been known to bite.
"I received a call recently from a father whose 18-month-old child had picked one up. It gave him a hell of a fright," Mr Hine said.
Matt Shardlow, a director of Buglife, which wants stricter controls on imports that might contain non-native species, added: "Fruit imports don't bring over that many foreign spiders. The big problem is pot plants, as the soil they are in can harbour all sorts of species."
From The Sun: 27 Nov. 2008
Scorpion found in bananas
A YOUNG mum stormed back to a shop after finding a SCORPION in a bunch of bananas - only to have staff laugh at her.
Laura Miller, 20, found the dangerous critter - which had crawled out of her fruit bowl - inside a pair of jeans.
The shocked mother-of-one went back to Asda in Wisbech, Cambs, where she had bought the bananas from.
But Laura, who has a six-month-old tot, was confronted by giggling workers.
She said: "They thought it was amusing - but they are not the ones who have a baby crawling around.
"One member of staff even said she thought it would be cool to find a scorpion."
She snapped: "They didn't seem concerned at all and said it was quite common to find bugs and insects in fruit.
"It really frightened me. It could have got to my daughter Grace who is six and a half months old and crawling all over the place.
"I was very upset but they just thought I was bothered about getting a refund for the bananas."
Laura, of Friday Bridge, near Wisbech, was doing the ironing when she spotted something crawling out of a pair of jeans.
She said: "I automatically thought it was a spider and because I am terrified of spiders I steamed it with the iron.
"Then I realised it was still crawling and it crawled back up the inside of the leg and I ironed over it again so it was sandwiched between the material.
"I got a bit of kitchen roll to put it on and it was then I realised it wasn't a spider. I showed it to my dad and he said it was a scorpion and it is usually found in fruit."
Laura then took it to a pet shop to have it analysed. They said it was an Israeli Gold scorpion which has a very painful sting.
An Asda spokesman said: "The picture that Laura gave us was of a scorpion that is not native to Cameroon or the African continent.
"Given that we source all of our bananas from these places, we're confused as to how this could have been found in her bunch of bananas."
He added: "We have rigorous inspection processes in place from the moment our bananas are picked right the way through to reaching our shelves, so we're scratching our heads as to how this could've happened.
"We sell 10million bananas on a weekly basis and this is the only reported incident.
"It goes without saying that we're very sorry indeed for any upset this may have caused.
"We've given Laura a double refund, but if she would like to come into the store to discuss this matter further, our store manager would be more than happy to accommodate. "
From Yahoo.uk: 20 May 2009
Deadly Widow Weaves Web Across Britain
A dangerous spider related to the Black Widow is spreading across Britain because of climate change, experts have warned.
The False Widow, a purple and black creature with a body the size of a 1p piece, is said to carry enough venom to kill a human.
Since arriving in Devon from the Canary Islands, the spider has established colonies in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall.
The spiders do not usually survive in colder parts of the UK, but a series of mild winters have led them to migrate to other areas.
Spider recorder David Haigh, of Cheltenham, has reported sightings of the species in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
One was in a shed in Tewkesbury and the other was spotted in Longney, he said.
The False Widow is one of 12 arachnid species known to bite humans in the UK. In January, Lyn Mitchell became critically ill after she was bitten by one of the creatures while in bed at her home in Egremont, west Cumbria.
Ms Mitchell, 52, suffered a serious allergic reaction to the bite and was rushed to hospital.
"I jumped out of bed, pulled the duvet and sheets back and saw a spider running over the other side," she said at the time.
"It was only tiny, black and shiny, and it ran so quickly.
"When I looked down I noticed two little pin marks on my chest."
The False Widow first started to arrive in banana shipments from the Spanish islands about 140 years ago. Its bite is not deadly but can cause swelling and severe pain.
From the Gloucestershire Echo: 19 May 2009
Venemous spider living in Gloucestershire
A COUSIN of the deadly Black Widow spider is spreading throughout Gloucestershire.
Until recently, the false widow had been contained to the warmer microclimates of Devon, Cornwall and Dorset.
But experts are warning it is spreading across Britain at an alarming rate because of global warming.
The purple and black spiders, whose abdomen is the size of a 1p piece, are now breeding and establishing colonies as far inland as Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
David Haigh, a spider recorder for Gloucestershire, said there have been two recorded sightings of the false widow species in the county. One was in a shed in Tewkesbury in June 2007 and the other was spotted last July in Longney.
Mr Haigh, of Cheltenham, said: "The false widow is established in the county now. You would have to be very unlucky to get one on your body which would bite.
"They normally live tucked away in holes in a shed.
"They don't tend to live in houses as they don't like central heating. In this country there are no spiders you need to be overly worried about."
The venomous creatures, which were introduced from Spain and the Canary Islands in the 1800s, are cold-blooded and cannot normally survive in colder parts of the UK.
But a succession of mild winters brought on by climate change has enabled the exotic arachnid to migrate steadily into other areas of Britain.
Experts say it is only a matter of time before the false widow - which packs enough venom to kill a human - infests towns and cities across the country. Earlier this year, grandmother Lyn Mitchell, 52, almost died after she was bitten by a false widow while she was sleeping at her Cumbrian home.
Environmentalist Matt Shardlow, director of invertebrate conservation charity Buglife, is one of the world's leading experts on spiders, insects and other small creatures.
He said: ''The false widow has long been prevalent across much of the South West because of the milder temperatures.
''The spiders come from warm countries and are usually killed off by our cold weather, especially in winter."
The species - steatoda grossa - is one of 12 spider species known to bite humans in the UK. They look similar to the true Black Widow, but are slightly smaller. Their bite usually causes an initial sharp pain which develops into a burning sensation. Experts say it feels similar to a bee sting and is rarely serious, but some victims suffer serious allergic reactions.
Native to the Canary Islands, the false widow arrived in England by chance after hiding in a bunch of bananas sent to Torquay, Devon, in 1870. Others are believed to have arrived by ''ballooning'" - using silk threads to 'fly' through the air in a similar way to paragliders and hangliders.
In September it was revealed the warm weather had led to a colony of Segestria Florentina moving to Gloucestershire.
The spiders, with green fangs, wait until its dark and then jump out on unsuspecting prey. They were initially found in Tredworth but have been spotted all over the county since.
From The Times: 17 May 2009
Eight legs bad - killer spiders find their way to Ireland
Deadly arachnids are being brought into the country in fruit, plants and other goods.
Irish college graduates are heading abroad in their thousands but it's not all one-way traffic. Potentially deadly spiders are finding their way to Ireland in plants, fruit and machinery.
Doctors at the Mater hospital in Dublin have just reported the case of a 21-year-old woman who was admitted to A&E twice in 2007 after a suspected spider bite. They believe she was bitten on the wrist by a venomous spider that had hitched a ride from Australia in the luggage of a visitor. The doctors who treated the woman have published the case report to alert other healthcare workers to the symptoms caused by bites from venomous spiders.
Fergal Cummins, a consultant in emergency medicine, said: "We are very keen to highlight things as soon as they become obvious in case a trend develops. Those of us who had seen [spider bites] before [in Australia] were pretty convinced immediately."
Venomous spiders are making their way to Ireland mainly in plants and fruit, particularly bunches of grapes. Black widow spiders, whose bite can be lethal, have come into Ireland on fruit imported from America. Other poisonous spiders have hitched lifts on machinery.
Last year a hunstman spider, which looks like a flattened tarantula and can leap several feet in the air, stowed a ride on a rally car imported from the Australian outback into Northern Ireland.
The woman treated at the Mater was an Australian living and working in Ireland. She had visitors from her homeland staying with her, and shortly after their arrival, she was sitting on the ground near their luggage when she felt a searing pain on her right wrist. Doctors believe it was an Australian white-tailed spider but cannot say definitively because it wasn't caught.
Six weeks later she was admitted to A&E again with flu-like symptoms. Danielle Ni Chroinin, another doctor who was working in A&E in the Mater, said: "Her wrist and arm were quite sore and she had difficulty moving the hand, and it had tingling in it."
Cummins said: "We want people to be aware that with global migration, people visiting from overseas might be smuggling things in their luggage."
Archie Murchie of the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Belfast, said: "With increased trade in general, we are getting a lot of produce coming in from abroad, and it is coming in quicker and more refrigerated so it is likely there will be more invasive species coming in. They are surprisingly hardy. If they are in a chilled environment they will survive longer.
"For every species that is introduced accidentally there is only about one in a thousand that will become a problem."
From BBC News: 9 June 2009
Shock as deadly black widow found
A deadly black widow spider gave a woman working for a home removal firm a fright when she found the creature wrapped in a hose pipe.
The North American stowaway had spent a month on a container ship before ending up near Presteigne in Powys.
Workers for the removal company were unwrapping Mike and Trish Newman's possessions following their return to the UK from San Francisco.
The spider is now being cared for by an exotic pets specialist in Newport.
Black widows are one of the most poisonous spiders in the world, although
their bites are rarely fatal.
The spider was found in the village of Kinnerton, near Presteigne, on Monday
and was placed in a jam jar for safety.
Mr and Mrs Newman had returned to the UK after spending five years in San Francisco. Mr Newman, 53, who is originally from Merthyr Tydfil, said: "The woman from the removal firm was very calm to be fair.
"I had wrapped the hose pipe before we left America and I probably would have taken more care had I known what was lurking inside.
"During our time in the US we'd never seen a black widow, although living there for some time we had made ourselves aware of what one looked like.
"We knew straight away it was a black widow."
Mrs Newman, 58, said she phoned the Department for the Environment, Food and
Agriculture (Defra) to ask for advice.
"We placed the spider in a jam jar for safekeeping and Defra put us in touch with an exotic pet specialist in Newport," she added.
Peter Heathcote, an approved exotic animal handler who runs Budget Vets in Newport, has given the spider a temporary home.
He is also due to examine what is thought to be the black widow's egg sack, which could contain up to 700 of her eggs.
Mr Heathcote said: "She's a very hungry little thing at the moment and a little grumpy.
"She's covered in a bit of web so she probably survived on flies and insects during the month on the container ship.
"She'll stay in the UK and we're moving her to the Reptile Zone in Bristol tomorrow."
The spider is thought to be one year old and is expected to live for five years.
Spider bite puts woman in hospital
A 52-year-old grandmother has told how she spent more than 24 hours on a life support machine after being bitten by a deadly spider. Lyn Mitchell woke up struggling for breath when she was bitten on the chest while in bed at her home in Egremont, Cumbria.
The culprit was thought to be a false black widow - Steatoda grossa - which usually causes blistering and a general malaise lasting for several days.
Mrs Mitchell said: "I suddenly woke up in severe pain. I just jumped out of bed, pulled the duvet and sheets back and saw a spider running all over the other side of the bed.
"It was tiny, black and shiny and it ran so quick - I have never seen anything move so fast. I didn't try and kill it because I felt so ill.
"If I hadn't been put on the life support machine I think I would have died."
Pest controllers from Copeland Borough Council sprayed her home and Mrs Mitchell said she found the spider dead behind her bedroom door several days later.
She said the Natural History Museum told her it was the worst case of its kind they had come across.
From the Belfast Telegraph: 16 Oct. 2008
Poisonous spiders hitch a ride to Ulster
A venomous huntsman spider has found its way into Northern Ireland by hitching a lift on a rally car imported from Australia.
The arachnid, which resembles a flattened tarantula, was brought to the Agri Food and Biosciences Insititute (AFBI) in Newforge Lane in Belfast for identification by a pest control firm hired to clear the car out.
Invertebrate expert Dr Archie Murchie of AFBI said several foreign spiders have found their way into Northern Ireland lately, but insists there is little likelihood of them establishing colonies.
This is in contrast to the situation in southern England where rising temperatures have sparked calls to scientists from worried householders who have found alien spiders in their homes and gardens.
One such species, the false black widow (Steadota paykuliana) was once found only on rare occasions in imported goods but has now colonised in the Plymouth area.
Another example of the same species was found in Northern Ireland two weeks ago. A Warrenpoint pensioner who found it lurking in a bunch of grapes brought the live false black widow to the AFBI laboratory by bus.
Imported fruit is a well known route for alien species to reach Northern Ireland but less predictable was the banded huntsman or giant crab spider from Australia which was carried in on an imported rally car.
Dr Murchie said the spider had found its way into the car while the vehicle was sitting in the Outback.
"My colleague Stephen Jess dealt with the query. It looks like a flattened tarantula - it's a very fast moving spider. It come in to us through a pest control firm. A guy who was interested in rallying had brought in a vehicle that had those spiders in the car," he said.
"Although quite vicious looking, the huntsman is generally non-aggressive, although it can give a nasty bite if provoked. They'll give you a bite but they are not one of the really toxic spiders that are life threatening.
"The second is a false black widow spider which came in on grapes. The bite is not fatal but can be painful. According to the Natural History Museum website, the bite itself is not usually felt but, within a short space of time, a local burning sensation is followed by radiating pain which is far more severe than a bee or wasp sting."
Another false black widow was found in Northern Ireland in June when it crawled out of a bunch of red grapes bought in a supermarket.
"We've certainly had a raft of them coming in at the minute. Whether that is a wee blip or a long term, I don't know," Dr Murchie said.
"With invasive species in general, you find that with global warning insects are surviving longer in winter so we're seeing a change in distribution. Some of the species we wouldn't have expected to find established in the past are now beginning to get a bit of a foothold in the UK as they extend their range.
"But it's probably a wee bit too cold in Northern Ireland for these spiders. The climate in the south of England is quite different to here."
Meanwhile, the prize for the most unpredictable invasion route goes to the American freshwater flatworm (Phagocata woodworthi) which is thought to have been introduced into Loch Ness on monster hunting equipment.
One spider species spreading across England is Segestria florentina, or the tube web spider. It used to be limited to east London's docks and ports on the South Coast but can now be found as far as the Midlands.
Unlike native spiders, it can become aggressive when cornered and, although not venomous, has been known to bite.
"I received a call recently from a father whose 18-month-old child had picked one up. It gave him a hell of a fright," Mr Hine said.
Matt Shardlow, a director of Buglife, which wants stricter controls on imports that might contain non-native species, added: "Fruit imports don't bring over that many foreign spiders. The big problem is pot plants, as the soil they are in can harbour all sorts of species."
From The Sun: 27 Nov. 2008
Scorpion found in bananas
A YOUNG mum stormed back to a shop after finding a SCORPION in a bunch of bananas - only to have staff laugh at her.
Laura Miller, 20, found the dangerous critter - which had crawled out of her fruit bowl - inside a pair of jeans.
The shocked mother-of-one went back to Asda in Wisbech, Cambs, where she had bought the bananas from.
But Laura, who has a six-month-old tot, was confronted by giggling workers.
She said: "They thought it was amusing - but they are not the ones who have a baby crawling around.
"One member of staff even said she thought it would be cool to find a scorpion."
She snapped: "They didn't seem concerned at all and said it was quite common to find bugs and insects in fruit.
"It really frightened me. It could have got to my daughter Grace who is six and a half months old and crawling all over the place.
"I was very upset but they just thought I was bothered about getting a refund for the bananas."
Laura, of Friday Bridge, near Wisbech, was doing the ironing when she spotted something crawling out of a pair of jeans.
She said: "I automatically thought it was a spider and because I am terrified of spiders I steamed it with the iron.
"Then I realised it was still crawling and it crawled back up the inside of the leg and I ironed over it again so it was sandwiched between the material.
"I got a bit of kitchen roll to put it on and it was then I realised it wasn't a spider. I showed it to my dad and he said it was a scorpion and it is usually found in fruit."
Laura then took it to a pet shop to have it analysed. They said it was an Israeli Gold scorpion which has a very painful sting.
An Asda spokesman said: "The picture that Laura gave us was of a scorpion that is not native to Cameroon or the African continent.
"Given that we source all of our bananas from these places, we're confused as to how this could have been found in her bunch of bananas."
He added: "We have rigorous inspection processes in place from the moment our bananas are picked right the way through to reaching our shelves, so we're scratching our heads as to how this could've happened.
"We sell 10million bananas on a weekly basis and this is the only reported incident.
"It goes without saying that we're very sorry indeed for any upset this may have caused.
"We've given Laura a double refund, but if she would like to come into the store to discuss this matter further, our store manager would be more than happy to accommodate. "
From Yahoo.uk: 20 May 2009
Deadly Widow Weaves Web Across Britain
A dangerous spider related to the Black Widow is spreading across Britain because of climate change, experts have warned.
The False Widow, a purple and black creature with a body the size of a 1p piece, is said to carry enough venom to kill a human.
Since arriving in Devon from the Canary Islands, the spider has established colonies in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall.
The spiders do not usually survive in colder parts of the UK, but a series of mild winters have led them to migrate to other areas.
Spider recorder David Haigh, of Cheltenham, has reported sightings of the species in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
One was in a shed in Tewkesbury and the other was spotted in Longney, he said.
The False Widow is one of 12 arachnid species known to bite humans in the UK. In January, Lyn Mitchell became critically ill after she was bitten by one of the creatures while in bed at her home in Egremont, west Cumbria.
Ms Mitchell, 52, suffered a serious allergic reaction to the bite and was rushed to hospital.
"I jumped out of bed, pulled the duvet and sheets back and saw a spider running over the other side," she said at the time.
"It was only tiny, black and shiny, and it ran so quickly.
"When I looked down I noticed two little pin marks on my chest."
The False Widow first started to arrive in banana shipments from the Spanish islands about 140 years ago. Its bite is not deadly but can cause swelling and severe pain.
From the Gloucestershire Echo: 19 May 2009
Venemous spider living in Gloucestershire
A COUSIN of the deadly Black Widow spider is spreading throughout Gloucestershire.
Until recently, the false widow had been contained to the warmer microclimates of Devon, Cornwall and Dorset.
But experts are warning it is spreading across Britain at an alarming rate because of global warming.
The purple and black spiders, whose abdomen is the size of a 1p piece, are now breeding and establishing colonies as far inland as Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
David Haigh, a spider recorder for Gloucestershire, said there have been two recorded sightings of the false widow species in the county. One was in a shed in Tewkesbury in June 2007 and the other was spotted last July in Longney.
Mr Haigh, of Cheltenham, said: "The false widow is established in the county now. You would have to be very unlucky to get one on your body which would bite.
"They normally live tucked away in holes in a shed.
"They don't tend to live in houses as they don't like central heating. In this country there are no spiders you need to be overly worried about."
The venomous creatures, which were introduced from Spain and the Canary Islands in the 1800s, are cold-blooded and cannot normally survive in colder parts of the UK.
But a succession of mild winters brought on by climate change has enabled the exotic arachnid to migrate steadily into other areas of Britain.
Experts say it is only a matter of time before the false widow - which packs enough venom to kill a human - infests towns and cities across the country. Earlier this year, grandmother Lyn Mitchell, 52, almost died after she was bitten by a false widow while she was sleeping at her Cumbrian home.
Environmentalist Matt Shardlow, director of invertebrate conservation charity Buglife, is one of the world's leading experts on spiders, insects and other small creatures.
He said: ''The false widow has long been prevalent across much of the South West because of the milder temperatures.
''The spiders come from warm countries and are usually killed off by our cold weather, especially in winter."
The species - steatoda grossa - is one of 12 spider species known to bite humans in the UK. They look similar to the true Black Widow, but are slightly smaller. Their bite usually causes an initial sharp pain which develops into a burning sensation. Experts say it feels similar to a bee sting and is rarely serious, but some victims suffer serious allergic reactions.
Native to the Canary Islands, the false widow arrived in England by chance after hiding in a bunch of bananas sent to Torquay, Devon, in 1870. Others are believed to have arrived by ''ballooning'" - using silk threads to 'fly' through the air in a similar way to paragliders and hangliders.
In September it was revealed the warm weather had led to a colony of Segestria Florentina moving to Gloucestershire.
The spiders, with green fangs, wait until its dark and then jump out on unsuspecting prey. They were initially found in Tredworth but have been spotted all over the county since.
From The Times: 17 May 2009
Eight legs bad - killer spiders find their way to Ireland
Deadly arachnids are being brought into the country in fruit, plants and other goods.
Irish college graduates are heading abroad in their thousands but it's not all one-way traffic. Potentially deadly spiders are finding their way to Ireland in plants, fruit and machinery.
Doctors at the Mater hospital in Dublin have just reported the case of a 21-year-old woman who was admitted to A&E twice in 2007 after a suspected spider bite. They believe she was bitten on the wrist by a venomous spider that had hitched a ride from Australia in the luggage of a visitor. The doctors who treated the woman have published the case report to alert other healthcare workers to the symptoms caused by bites from venomous spiders.
Fergal Cummins, a consultant in emergency medicine, said: "We are very keen to highlight things as soon as they become obvious in case a trend develops. Those of us who had seen [spider bites] before [in Australia] were pretty convinced immediately."
Venomous spiders are making their way to Ireland mainly in plants and fruit, particularly bunches of grapes. Black widow spiders, whose bite can be lethal, have come into Ireland on fruit imported from America. Other poisonous spiders have hitched lifts on machinery.
Last year a hunstman spider, which looks like a flattened tarantula and can leap several feet in the air, stowed a ride on a rally car imported from the Australian outback into Northern Ireland.
The woman treated at the Mater was an Australian living and working in Ireland. She had visitors from her homeland staying with her, and shortly after their arrival, she was sitting on the ground near their luggage when she felt a searing pain on her right wrist. Doctors believe it was an Australian white-tailed spider but cannot say definitively because it wasn't caught.
Six weeks later she was admitted to A&E again with flu-like symptoms. Danielle Ni Chroinin, another doctor who was working in A&E in the Mater, said: "Her wrist and arm were quite sore and she had difficulty moving the hand, and it had tingling in it."
Cummins said: "We want people to be aware that with global migration, people visiting from overseas might be smuggling things in their luggage."
Archie Murchie of the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Belfast, said: "With increased trade in general, we are getting a lot of produce coming in from abroad, and it is coming in quicker and more refrigerated so it is likely there will be more invasive species coming in. They are surprisingly hardy. If they are in a chilled environment they will survive longer.
"For every species that is introduced accidentally there is only about one in a thousand that will become a problem."
From BBC News: 9 June 2009
Shock as deadly black widow found
A deadly black widow spider gave a woman working for a home removal firm a fright when she found the creature wrapped in a hose pipe.
The North American stowaway had spent a month on a container ship before ending up near Presteigne in Powys.
Workers for the removal company were unwrapping Mike and Trish Newman's possessions following their return to the UK from San Francisco.
The spider is now being cared for by an exotic pets specialist in Newport.
Black widows are one of the most poisonous spiders in the world, although
their bites are rarely fatal.
The spider was found in the village of Kinnerton, near Presteigne, on Monday
and was placed in a jam jar for safety.
Mr and Mrs Newman had returned to the UK after spending five years in San Francisco. Mr Newman, 53, who is originally from Merthyr Tydfil, said: "The woman from the removal firm was very calm to be fair.
"I had wrapped the hose pipe before we left America and I probably would have taken more care had I known what was lurking inside.
"During our time in the US we'd never seen a black widow, although living there for some time we had made ourselves aware of what one looked like.
"We knew straight away it was a black widow."
Mrs Newman, 58, said she phoned the Department for the Environment, Food and
Agriculture (Defra) to ask for advice.
"We placed the spider in a jam jar for safekeeping and Defra put us in touch with an exotic pet specialist in Newport," she added.
Peter Heathcote, an approved exotic animal handler who runs Budget Vets in Newport, has given the spider a temporary home.
He is also due to examine what is thought to be the black widow's egg sack, which could contain up to 700 of her eggs.
Mr Heathcote said: "She's a very hungry little thing at the moment and a little grumpy.
"She's covered in a bit of web so she probably survived on flies and insects during the month on the container ship.
"She'll stay in the UK and we're moving her to the Reptile Zone in Bristol tomorrow."
The spider is thought to be one year old and is expected to live for five years.
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