The powers of the superhero Spider-Man are tempting, but unfortunately a real spider bite can be life-threatening. Such is the case of this 8-year-old Bolivian boy. He deliberately allowed himself to be bitten by a black widow, thinking that he would have the same abilities as the famous Peter Parker, as reported bolivia.com and the Spanish news agency EFE.
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A bite out of the Marvel movie
The little Bolivian boy found this spider with its deadly venom under a stone in the town of Vichuloma, in the Orura region. Ernesto Vásquez, head of the zoonotic diseases programme at the Oruro departmental health service, told EFE:
The child, without taking into account the risks, picked it up [and] placed it on the back of his palm where the arachnid bit.
Convinced that his bite had given him the powers of a Marvel superhero, the boy kept the spider in a jar and went home. But several hours later, he began to experience strange symptoms, including muscle aches and contractions, requiring hospitalisation.
Read more:Here’s What to Do in Case of Swelling From a Spider Bite
The child was hospitalised in emergency
Black widow bites can quickly become harmful if the venom reaches the nervous system. In some cases, they can kill fragile victims such as children. Fortunately for this little adventurer, he warned his mum in time and was given an anti-venom solution in hospital. His condition has now stabilised. Ernesto Vásquez told EFE that the boy's condition was extremely worrying at first.
We're extremely worried because the analysis and the questions put to the child when he had already recovered indicate that he picked up the arachnid with a simple aim: that he wanted to become Spider-Man.
He also added that black widow spider bites are lethal.
These black spiders with red backs are black widows. They don't encourage anyone to become Spider-Man; on the contrary, they put lives at risk.
While the mishap could have been fatal, the little Bolivian should have known that in fiction, Spider-Man is bitten by a radioactive spider and not a black widow.
Read more:This is the shocking reason you should never catch a spider with your vacuum cleaner
This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag FR.
Sources used:
BFMTV: "IL VOULAIT DEVENIR SPIDER-MAN": UN ENFANT BOLIVIEN DE 8 ANS SE LAISSE MORDRE PAR UNE VEUVE NOIRE
