Camera phone photo help saves man bitten by spider

A British chef might have saved his life when he took a photo of an extremely poisonous Brazilian Wandering Spider that bit him twice, according to a news report.

Matthew Stevens was cleaning a freezer in a pub where works when he was bitten by a spider "about as big as the palm of my hand," he says.  The spider, believed to have hitched a ride on a bunch of bananas, was hiding in a cloth.

When Steven squeezed the cloth (not seeing the spider), the spider bit him.  He tried to pick it up and the spider bit him again.  He took a camera phone photo of the spider to commemorate his experience because he assumed his friends wouldn't believe him.

He then went to the hospital because he became dizzy and started shaking.

Poor medical advice

Despite his symptoms, the staff at a local hospital said he should just rest at home.  Bad advice.

Soon after arriving home he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.  Stevens didn't think he would survive.  "My chest was so tight I could hardly breathe.  My blood pressure was going through the roof and my heart was beating so hard I could feel it hitting my chest," he says in the article.

The doctors didn't know what type of spider had bitten him, but Stevens told them about the photo in his camera phone.  The photo was sent to the Bristol Zoo that identified it as one of the deadliest spiders in the world.

The doctors then gave Steven oxygen and flushed the poison out of his system with saline solution.  He was discharged the next day.

Carry a camera phone...save your life!