Blake claimed to British media that he was informed by the doctor that the swelling had been caused by a bite from a Peruvian wolf spider.<\/p>\n
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Giant Robber Crabs Invading Family BBQ In Australia is the Stuff of Nightmares <\/h4>\n
He said his toe began to look discolored and infected after a meal outside in Marseille with his wife of over three decades.<\/p>\n
“My wife thought it may be because I had new sandals and they were rubbing on my big toe and that was causing it to be red,” Blake explained.<\/p>\n
Once home, the man got a prescription for antibiotics. He also said medical professionals told him they found spider eggs in the milk-like pus that emerged from the appendage when they lanced the inflamed toe.<\/p>\n
The swelling eventually went down but bite marks were still visible for weeks afterward.<\/p>\n
However, Blake claimed that four weeks after he seemed to have fully recovered, he started to feel discomfort again. He went back to the doctor where he said they removed a spider from his toe, which they believe had been killed by the antibiotics<\/p>\n
“One of the spider eggs hadn’t been flushed and must have hatched,” he told the news outlet. “They believe the spider was making its way out – eating its way out of my toe.”<\/p>\n
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Three-inch Funnel-Web 'Megaspider' That Can Bite Through Human Fingernails Discovered in Australia <\/h4>\n
However, soon after British media picked up the story, some arachnology experts cast doubt on one aspect of the tale — specifically the most terrifying part.<\/p>\n
BBC spoke with a Sara Goodacre from the University of Nottingham, who told them: “I can’t possibly see how it could be true at all because I know about their biology. [The egg sacs] take quite a while to spin. The spider venom is not necrotising, it is designed to paralyse a fruit fly.”<\/p>\n
“There is no European wolf spider that could really penetrate the skin,” Goodacre said. While the British Arachnological Society told the outlet that they found the whole story “implausible”.<\/p>\n
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