Spider-bites in Europe (and AKL?!)
 

I'm generally a mosquito magnet, but I've been bitten twice in as many months in different hemispheres and would love to know the cause!
The first was in the beer garden (?!) of the Hyatt in AKL where I felt a sharp pain just above my ankle bone .The next day my ankle was severly swollen, itchy red raw with a a clear welt or blister over the bite site. Over the next few days I lost all visible contact with my ankle bone and the horrendous itchy site resulted in a shiny red- deep dark purple-black area.
I assumed this was some local native nasty, then to my horror, after an evening walk recently in Vienna,(just 5 weeks or so later) I experieneced the same symptoms again on the top of my foot ...serious, painful itchyblister followed by 2-3 days of a black-blue inflammed area. Is this a spider bite? I didn't think we had any biting spiders in Europe. I took copious amounts of anti-histamines and also dosed the affect site with Benadryl topical cream, slight relief.
All symptoms subsided after about 7 days in both cases, though curiously I'd never experienced anything simililar before despite travelling extensively world-wide in the last 5 five years. It's quite peculiar that both sypmtoms were almost exactly the same, and yet, having spent plenty of time in both locations in the past and spoken to numerous locals, no-one seems very knowledgible on the cause (by the way I've no known allergens).
Advice appreciated!
WC

Hi WC

To me it sounds like you may have been bitten by a white-tailed spider, which as far as I know is the only dangerous animal in New Zealand.

The episode in Vienna may have been a recurrance of the initial bite ... or it may be completed unrelated.

Do a quick google on "white-tailed spider" and you can read a little about it.

Hope this helps ... but its only speculation of course.
Cheers

I couldn't resist doing the google search myself. This site was the best I found for pictures of the wounds....

Spider-bites
 

Thank's AF1 for the advice, nearly 2 weeks on since the last symptoms subsided, (occasionally a bit itchy but not really visible) In retrospect and after talking to horrified fellow crew, realise I probably should have sought medical attention.Especially as you say it could be reoccurant and both sites are within 6 inches of each other...let's see it happens again next month then!

TheStormyPetrel, don't know if I should thank-you or curse you! Thanks for the web-link. That poor woman. At first I was grateful, my symptoms weren't THAT severe, however, apparently my tissues may be secretly necrosing below the surface!!! Any vacancies in your airline for a one-legged dolly??!! Thanks anyway!