Funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus) antivenom. 2. Early clinical experience

This paper describes the successful use of funnel-web antivenom in two severe cases of envenomation from bites by a male funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus. Rapid resolution of the syndrome occurred in both cases. Although the first patient, a 49-year-old man, may have slowly recovered without antivenom, it is unlikely that the other patient, a three-year-old boy, would have survived without antivenom therapy. In both cases the duration of hospitalisation was dramatically reduced.