Thirroul mum lucky to be alive after spider bite led to potentially deadly infection

Sian Crinis, 37, presented to Bulli Hospital on February 1 after she was bitten on the thigh by the white-tailed, or white-tip, spider earlier that day.

She returned to the hospital four days later, as the bite site was blistering, red and becoming more inflamed - and she was feeling increasingly unwell. However she was again sent home, with no testing undertaken.

By Friday night, she just wanted to crawl into bed, but at her mother and partner's urging, she agreed to go to Wollongong Hospital where the life-threatening blood infection was finally diagnosed.

She was immediately given intravenous antibiotics but because the infection was so advanced by that stage, she required surgery.

Ms Crinis, a retained firefighter with Fire & Rescue NSW, said she'd finally been able to spend some time at home with her partner Kyle and young son Finn after months of fighting bushfires, when she was bitten.

"I was cleaning a mother-in-law's tongue and initially thought I'd been pricked by the plant, but then I looked down and saw the spider," she said. "Later that day I started to feel a bit sick and my body started to hurt - like I was coming down with the flu.

"The area around the bite was really red and my leg felt like it was on fire, so I ended up going to Bulli Hospital. I was prescribed antibiotics but a few days later was feeling even worse.

"The redness had spread far outside the initial circle I'd drawn around the bite mark, so I returned to the hospital. But I was sent home again, and just really deteriorated from there."

Ms Crinis said staff at Wollongong Hospital said things could have turned deadly if she hadn't subsequently sought further attention.

"The infection had gone too deep and caused an abscess so they needed to operate on my leg, cutting into the muscle to remove infected tissue," she said.

"The wound couldn't be stitched up - it has to heal from the bottom up - so it needs to be packed, and unpacked, with gauze by nurses which is extremely painful."

This was undertaken daily initially, with community nurses visiting Ms Crinis at home after she left hospital. Now they visit every second day.

"I'm getting better but I've needed a month off work, and it's been a terrible process," she said. "I'm glad I relied on my mother's instinct, but I'm upset that the infection wasn't identified sooner."

Northern Illawarra Hospital Group Nicole Sheppard said the safety and care of patients was the "highest priority".

"Bulli Hospital takes very seriously any concerns raised by patients or family members," she said. "Bulli Hospital management is endeavouring to make contact with the patient and a review of the care provided is underway."

According to the Australian Museum, white-tailed spider bites can cause initial burning pain followed by swelling and itchiness at the site.

The museum website said there had been unconfirmed reports of weals, blistering or local ulceration - conditions known medically as necrotising arachnidism.

However the site claimed the available evidence suggested that skin ulceration was not a common outcome of a white-tailed spider bite.