VIDEO: Man bitten by false widow spider outside Kilkenny City

A man was left in severe pain after being bitten by a venomous spider in Kilkenny.

Filmmaker Victor Karu, who is based in Kildare, was working about 15km outside Kilkenny City when he was bitten by the false widow spider on Saturday, September 9. 

Speaking to Independent.ie, Victor said he had been walking and examining his filming location when he noticed some spider web threads on his jacket.

It was a short time later before he realised he had been bitten at least three times. 

He said: "Things started to get quite nasty: all the area around the three bites got swollen and became red and what was worse - it was burning like I had spilled boiling water on it plus my whole arm was in pain."

Victor told the website that he then started to experience some dizziness and a headache and what he described as "a different sort of pain".

"It felt like half of my arm was in pain from the inside... like the bone was hurting, or something was twisting it."

Victor looked up his symptoms online and found that they matched those of people who had an allergic reaction from a bite of a false widow spider.

Steatoda nobilis in Latin, the false widow spider is about the size of a 20c coin - however, it has a severe bite.

They only bite when they have been provoked and tend to cause pain similar to that of a bee sting.

Although the bite is rarely fatal, it can cause a severe allergic reaction in some people which could then require medical treatment.

Have you been bitten by a false widow spider in Kilkenny? If so, please get in touch with the Kilkenny People by emailing: news@kilkennypeople.ie