A TRADIE has been taken to hospital after being bitten on the penis by a redback spider, while sitting on the toilet in Sydney’s south.

The man, known only as Jordan, was using a Portaloo on a building site on Civic Ave, Kogarah, when the spider bit him on his genitalia about 8.45am.

Paramedics were initially called to the scene, but a NSW Ambulance spokesman said the bitten man managed to make his own way to hospital for treatment.

“He’s somehow managed to get alternative transport to hospital,” he said.

media_camera The spider’s web inside the portable toilet. John Grainger media_camera The man was sitting in the Portaloo when the spider bit him. Picture: John Grainger

St George Hospital confirmed a 21-year-old man arrived at the emergency department a short time later.

The injured man remains in a stable condition and is expected to be discharged later today.

The mainly nocturnal redback spider typically lives close to human homes, preying on insects and smaller spiders and Australia’s leading expert on redbacks, Associate Professor Julian White from Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital, said minor bites were common in Australia.

media_camera Redback Spider, Latrodectus hasseltii.

“Going back 80 years or so when people were still using outhouse toilets it was extremely common, something like up to 80 per cent of cases of spider bites were bites on the male genitalia,” he said

“Typically they were using the toilet. But it’s much less common now, I can’t think of a case.”

Redback anti-venom was developed in the early 1950s and deaths are typically very rare, however 22-year-old Jayden Burleigh died earlier this month of complications following a spider bite.

If bitten, patients are advised to apply an ice pack or cold compress and call emergency services.

media_camera The 21-year-old was using a portable toilet when bitten on the penis.

“A bite from a redback is certainly going to make the patient very miserable, but it’s very uncommon to die as we’ve had an anti-venom for more than 50 years,” he said.

“But you’d experience pain — pain as the venom stimulates the nerves around the bite — along with swelling and increased blood pressure.

“But certainly, that would make you very miserable.”

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Approximately 2000 people are bitten each year by Redback Spiders in Australia.

Redbacks have long been fodder for old wife’s tales and horror stories of “spiders on the dunny”, but Professor White said it was less myth and more a case of better plumbing.

Bites usually remain red and itchy for several days.

As cooler, wet weather begins for the year Sydneysiders are advised to keep an eye out for redbacks, who will be typically hunting near humans Australian Academy of Science’s Associate Professor Bryan Fry said.

“It’s our fault that redbacks are on the dunny, in fact we’re the best thing that ever happened to them — where there’s humans, there will be insects for them to feed on,” he said.

“But of all the places to get bitten and of all the spiders, he had to pick this one. The redback has to be the most painful spider in Australia.”

Redback spider bites Symptoms include: Sweating

Muscle weakness

Loss of coordination

Nausea

Vomiting What do I do? Keep the casualty calm Apply an ice pack or cold compress If the casualty is a young child or pregnant woman, transport them to hospital or call paramedics DO NOT use the "pressure immobilisation technique"