Dangerous pets, such as tarantulas, have been growing in popularity – but owners may not know all the risks, doctors have warned.
Tarantulas not only have a poisonous bite – but have other means of defence, doctors in Leeds discovered.
Dr Zia Carrim, of St James’s Hospital, issued a warning in The Lancet after treating a man who developed an eye infection from the hairs on his pet tarantula.
Magnifying lenses revealed the man had hairs lodged in his eye.
The patient then told the doctors he owned a Chilean Rose tarantula, which had unleashed a "mist of hairs" into his face.
Called for owners to be advised to wear protective goggles, Dr Carrim said: "As a defence mechanism against potential predators, the tarantula will rub its hind legs against its abdomen to dislodge these hairs into the air. Multiple barbs allow the hairs to migrate through ocular tissue as well as other surfaces."
A second series of reports in the journal calls for improvements in anti-venom treatment for snake-bite victims.
Experts say studies in India are about to reveal very high death rates from snake bites.
Professor David Warrell, of Oxford University, UK, says: "Snake bite is a neglected disease that afflicts the most impoverished inhabitants of rural areas in tropical developing countries. It is an unusually challenging medical problem that deserves further investigation after the prolonged neglect by medical science."
Lancet January 1 2010
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