Lucy Devine
A British man has issued a warning after a spider 'bit him in bed' and left him with a flesh-eating disease.
Nigel Hunt, 59, from the Isles of Scilly, was lying in bed at home, shortly before setting off to the airport for a holiday to Egypt.
Out of nowhere, Nigel says he was bitten by a spider on his stomach. Although he 'felt fine' at first, days later and Nigel had become violently sick.
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Speaking from Egypt, Nigel said: "On arriving at the airport and travelling through check-in we made our way to departures.
"At this point, everything seemed to deteriorate quite quickly from being sick in the departure lounge to having my head in a sick bag for most of the journey. "On arrival at Sharm El Sheikh, we collected our belongings and made our way to the pharmacy for some antibiotics or something to help with the sickness.
"They prescribed a couple of things and the following day we went to hospital to be prescribed the same medication."
Nigel explained that over the following couple of days, his condition worsened, so he returned to hospital for further tests and scans.
"The next two days started to get worse so we went to a different hospital in Hadaba where straight away I had blood tests and ultrasound scans," he said.
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"Then we waited a couple of hours for the doctor to check the results.
"He called us in saying it was a good job we had come in because the bite was from either a false widow or a brown recluse spider."
Nigel had surgery to have what he thought was an abscess treated, but it turned out he was suffering from a flesh-eating bug called necrotising fasciitis, which can be caused from an infected wound.
"If I hadn’t been to the hospital for a second examination within six to 10 days, I would be dead," he said.
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"They haven’t given me an all-clear date yet as the wound is still open and I have to have it packed every couple of days.
"I just have to make sure it hasn’t started spreading again.
"It could be a couple of weeks before I could fly back home."
Nigel's wife, Sandra, said: "The doctors in Egypt are convinced it was a spider bite.
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"Nigel is still going to the hospital to have the gaping wound cleaned and repacked without any anaesthetic.
"It’s awful to witness. They also have to keep checking to make sure no more necrosis has developed."