The Fukuoka Municipal Government announced on Tuesday that a man in his 30s was rushed to hospital on Jan. 21 after being bitten by a redback spider in Chuo-ku. According to reports, the man was bitten around 12:31 on Monday, after buying canned coffee from a vending machine near a parking lot in Maizuru Park. The spider crawled up his arm and bit him as he retrieved his coffee from the vending machine slot. He called for an ambulance two hours later because of acute pain and nausea.
The government said that while the bite was not life-threatening, people are urged not to touch the redback spider or any other suspicious spiders. Since 2006, there has been a rise in the number of reports in Japan of people being bitten by the redback spider, which is indigenous to Australia. In September last year, an 86 year old woman from Higashi Ward, Fukuoka, was bitten by a redback and taken to a hospital. She was able to recover thanks to an expired but still effective antivenom serum that the hospital had in stock. Source: http://japandailypress.com/new-redback-spider-attack-sends-fukuoka-man-to-the-hospital-2422125
