Mystery covers the exact circumstances under which the 48-year-old holidaymaker in Ilia received the fatal spider bite, who eventually died at the Pyrgos Hospital where he was intubated.

“Light” on the causes of the 48-year-old’s death is expected to be shed by the toxicological and histological tests in about 20 days to a month. In any case, information from the post-mortem report summarizes that his death came from a type of gangrene.

In any case, everything will become clear once the medical examiners have their hands on the toxicological and histological tests whenever it is ascertained whether the death is indeed due to a spider bite or if there is another cause.

On Sunday afternoon the unfortunate man felt an irritation high on his thigh after a walk on the beach, gradually the discomfort became more intense and on Tuesday morning he went to an orthopedist, who diagnosed inflammation and sent him to the hospital.

From communicating with poison centers and other scientists at other hospitals, their minds went haywire. Taking into account the clinical picture and its evolution, they concluded that it is probably not a snake, it is some kind of spider. There is no lab sample that they saw poison or anything else“, said the Commander of Pyrgos Hospital, Spyros Politis, adding that the unfortunate man came to the hospital at lunchtime, he was given some painkillers for the inflammation and all the necessary tests were done.

He insisted that the man leave to continue his vacation, but the doctors were now worried and admitted him. In the early hours of Wednesday, within a couple of hours, the situation changed completely rapidly. Terrible picture within two hours and in the morning the patient had started to collapse, he was intubated and entered the ICU“, he added.

The man died on Thursday with doctors speculating that he was bitten by a brown spider, for which there is no antidote in Greece.

According to experts, there are two potentially dangerous spider species in Greece, the Mediterranean black widow and a brown spider called the Mediterranean reed or violin spider.

Scientists report that there is no antidote for the venom of the brown spider unlike the so-called black widow for which a serum is available.

If we are stung, toxins, either neurotoxin or hemorrhagic toxin, can enter our body and depending on what kind of toxins we have either very severe pain, paralysis or hemorrhagic mood. We are talking about skin and necrotic ulcers that can allow other microbes to enter“, explains the Professor of Epidemiology, EKPA, Theodora Psaltopoulou.

This Mediterranean black widow could potentially lead to death, it has neurotoxic venom, of course there is an anti-spider serum in Greece for this spider and the European deaths are measured in the fingers of one hand and there is no recorded death in Greece“, summarizes the Biologist-Herpetologist, Ilias Strahinis, and also notes that if there was necrotic dermatitis, which led to the case of the brown spider, it could be, for example, a bacterial infection that led to necrotizing fasciitis.

“There is no evidence of complications and there is no recorded death in Europe as a whole and worldwide from European rickets,” he concludes.