Tarantula scare has once again returned to Debra in West Midnapore after a pregnant woman was bitten by a venomous spider yesterday. The victim, Mamata Patra Santa, a resident of Raghunathpur village, is undergoing treatment in Debra super speciality hospital.

Two years ago, there was a panic at Debra block in the district after eight people were hospitalised due to spider-bites. All the victims were discharged after preliminary treatment, though there was a strong rumour that they were bitten by tarantulas.

This time, local residents claimed that a tarantula had bitten the victim. After being informed, the forest department officials reached the spot and caught the spider. The insect had stung her in the hand following which it had swollen. The doctors, however, said that the patient’s condition is stable.

Local residents of Debra also said that a big, hairy spider had bitten the woman. The bite created a dark scab-like mass on the spot, which produced a burning sensation. The wound became swollen in a moment. “Tarantulas are known as ‘bird-eating spiders’. They cannot make cobwebs and so they live in shady and warm places, preferably underground.

They catch their prey by throwing a jet of sticky threads and use the venom, which is of various nature from neurotic to somatic, to paralyse the prey. The lethality of the venom is no more than that of bees or wasps,” the forest official said. “A human being can die as a result of a Tarantula bite only through secondary infection, such as tetanus,” he said.

The forest department officials have, meanwhile, started an investigation to identify the insect and where it had come from. Meanwhile, a 37-year-old man died after being bitten by a poisonous unidentified insect while he was travelling in a train along with his family members.

The youth identified as Pintu Sahoo was hospitalised in Egra super speciality hospital on Sunday night and he succumbed to his injuries within hours. The family members, however, claimed that he was bitten by a tarantula. “We were travelling in the Down Kanyakumari Express from Tirunelveli station and when the train was about to reach Chennai, he shouted in pain.

I saw a black spider-like insect, which had probably stung his leg,” said Pranati, wife of the deceased. Pranati alleged that she repeatedly urged a ticket checker in the train to call a doctor because her husband was suffering from acute pain, but the ticket examiner did not pay any heed. Finally, they got down at Kharagpur station from where they admitted him to the Egra super speciality hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries within hours. “The railway authority is solely responsible for the death,” she said.