A tourist's legs have been amputated and he's lost the use of an arm after his family claims he may have been bitten by a white-tailed spider in regional Victoria.
Filipino tourist Terry Pareja's family say they were told by doctors a bite from a white-tailed spider might have caused flesh necrosis that led to the amputations.
But Mr Pareja doesn't remember being bitten by a white-tailed spider, and even if he had been, it is unlikely its venom would have caused the necrosis, an expert says.
Mr Pareja was visiting his sister in Birchip a month ago when he began feeling unwell and his leg swelled, his brother-in-law, Ray Ogleby, says.
"He (could) hardly walk on Saturday and on Sunday (his leg) started to turn black," Mr Ogleby told 3AW on Wednesday.
"There's no doctor service in Birchip on Saturday and Sunday, so he waited until Monday."
The local doctor sent him straight to Horsham hospital that day, February 27, and his right leg was amputated, Mr Ogleby said.
Mr Pareja was flown to Melbourne that night, and his left leg was also removed.
Mr Ogleby says a toxicology report pointed to a "possible spider bite".
Speculation about whether white-tailed spider bites could cause necrotising arachnidism was investigated in a study published in 2003 in the Medical Journal of Australia.
It found no evidence of necrotising arachnidism in 130 confirmed cases of white-tailed spider bites.
Lead author Geoff Isbister said cases like these are very emotive and patients don't like being told it wasn't a spider.
"It's all about people wanting to be able to label what they have - much better that a spider did this, rather than 'we are not sure'," he told AAP on Wednesday.
The University of Newcastle researcher has previously called for medical practitioners to more thoroughly investigate the causes of necrotic ulcers because they are often misattributed to spiders.
"The medical community is by no means immune to the myth of necrotic arachnidism and is responsible for its persistence by not questioning the evidence or investigating necrotic ulcers in the same way as any other disorder," he said in an opinion piece published in UK medical journal The Lancet in 2004.
Mr Pareja remains in The Alfred hospital in a serious but stable condition.
