HIGHLANDS residents are warned to keep on the lookout for potentially dangerous funnel-web spiders, which typically move around in warm and damp weather.
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The funnel-web spiders are forest dwellers that enjoy warm, moist places and the ongoing rain will make backyards, sheds and homes ideal refuges for the spiders.
Prior to the introduction of anti-venom in 1981, there were 14 recorded deaths from funnel-web bites between 1927-1980. In the case of a funnel-web bite, medical attention should be sought immediately by calling an ambulance.
Symptoms usually consist of severe pain followed by numbness of the bite area.
Vomiting, sweating, and muscular cramps may also occur.
Awareness is crucial and bites can often be avoided by shaking out loose clothes or shoes left on the floor or outside.
Funnel-web first aid
According to the Ambulance Service of New South Wales Standard Operating Policy, the following steps should be taken while waiting for paramedics to arrive:
* Keep her/him from moving around
* Keep the bitten limb down
* Bandage the limb from the area of the bite to the hand/foot, then back up to the body
* Immobilise the limb by splinting if possible
* Tell her/him to keep calm
* Do not move her/him at all
* Wait there for the paramedics (ambulance).
