Swarms
of poisonous nocturnal spiders have cast a web of terror in the northeastern
state- Assam’s Sadiya area bordering Arunachal Pradesh. The spiders have strong
neurotoxic venom known to be fatal.
The first of the spider attacks
on May 8, in Chaulkhowa Na-Gaon village, left a middle-aged man dead due to spider
bite. Barbora, Jiyagaon, Dikrong and a few other villages in the area reported
spider attacks in the next few days. At least 20 people have subsequently
undergone treatment for swelling and pain at Sadiya Civil Hospital. This spider
species has reportedly found its way to Guwahati as well.
People fear more attacks by the ‘alien’ arachnids. Zoologists said the description of
the spiders fit the venomous black or brown widow species belonging to the Latrodectus
genus found in contiguous areas of Myanmar, China and Thailand.
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