for p4s...

[jason]

http://www.thebestlinks.com/images/6/66/Redback_back_view.jpg

Spider plague closes Australian hospital

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A tiny Australian hospital is closing temporarily because of an infestation of poisonous spiders.

The Baralaba Multi Purpose Health Service will close for 24 hours starting Thursday morning so officials can fumigate the building to get rid of redback spiders that have been found in large numbers in the main part of the hospital.

Three or four patients will need to be moved to another hospital while the building is closed, according to a statement from Queensland state health officials.

Redback spiders, common throughout most of the country, have a painful bite and a toxic venom, although an anti-venom is available.

The statement said warm weather had caused more redback spider eggs to hatch than usual.

"We believe the best way to deal with them, and the safest option for staff and patients, is to have the whole building fumigated so both the spiders and their eggs are killed," Ellen Palmer, rural director of nursing, said in the statement Wednesday.

Nearly 300 people live in Baralaba, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Brisbane.

LINK (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/ODD_AUSTRALIA_SPIDERS?SITE=AP)

[pirate4state]

:( :( :(

[AP Panther Fan]

Wonder if the red back spider is the Australian version of a black widow....:thinking:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/black-widow-spider.jpg


this is a female black widow and the "hour glass" is on their underside.

[Ranger Mom]

Originally posted by AP Panther Fan
Wonder if the red back spider is the Australian version of a black widow....:thinking:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/black-widow-spider.jpg


this is a female black widow and the "hour glass" is on their underside.

Hundreds of Australians are bitten every year by the Red-back Spider (Latrodectus hasselti) a close relative of the Black Widow Spider. The Red-back is found in all parts of Australia except in the hottest deserts and on the coldest mountains.

The female Black Widow is shiny black, usually with a reddish hourglass shape on the underside of her spherical abdomen. Her body is about .5 inches long, 1.5 inches when the legs are spread. Adult males are harmless to humans, about half the female's size, with smaller bodies, and longer legs and usually have yellow and red bands and spots over the back as do the immature stages.

LINK (http://www.desertusa.com/july97/du_bwindow.html)