100 people hospitalised as 'most dangerous spider' spreads across UK

100 people hospitalised as 'most dangerous spider' spreads across UKIt has been named the 'most dangerous spider breeding in the UK'CommentsNewsNeil Shaw Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle)06:23, 13 Apr 2026View 3 ImagesThe bite is serious enbough to leave people in hospitalHospital admissions from spider bites have doubled in England in the last decade with experts blaming the rise on the “explosion” in the population of false widows. Provisional NHS figures show there were 100 admissions as a result of “contact with or toxic effect of spiders” in 2025 compared with 47 in 2015, a freedom of information request obtained by the Press Association has revealed.‌Academics have linked the rise to the increase in the noble false widow spider, a species described as “the most dangerous spider breeding in Britain” in a 2020 paper by Oxford University ecologist Clive Hambler. The species, which is known to bite, originates from Madeira and the Canary Islands and was first reported in southern England in 1879.‌The first recorded sighting of a false widow was in Torquay. They are believed to have arrived as stowaways in banana crates or other fruit cargo shipments.‌View 3 ImagesThe false widow spider has started to spread across the UKMr Hambler, who is a lecturer in biological and human sciences at Hertford College, told PA that “the days when you could just treat spiders as benign in Britain are over”. "I think if you were going back 50 years, then there would have been hardly any consequences from spider bites in Britain,” he said.“The incidents of severe bites from spiders in Britain will have increased, as this species (false widows) became hugely more abundant in Britain, particularly in the south.” There were 43 hospital admissions due to spider bites in 2021 and the figure increased to 95 the following year, the NHS figures show. In both 2023 and 2024, there were 91 admissions.‌Mr Hambler said that people are coming into contact with false w...