Man Gets Black Widow Spider Bite. Then He Can't Pee.

By Cari Nierenberg, Live Science Contributor | December 27, 2018 09:13am ET

There's a whole range of reasons you don't want to be bitten by a black widow spider, but you probably wouldn't think that losing the ability to pee is one of them.

But that's what may have happened to a man in Canada. After he got a suspected black widow bite on his foot, he developed a condition called acute urinary retention, meaning he couldn't pee despite having a very full bladder, according to a recent report of his case.

The 50-year-old encountered the spider while he was walking through tall grass at his cottage in southern Ontario, the report said. Black widow spiders are rare in Canada because the arachnids are typically found in warmer climates; however, climate change may be driving the spiders farther north, Live Science reported in August.

The man didn't think much about the bite when it happened: When he felt it, he quickly brushed away what he believed to be a black spider, said lead case report author Dr. Matthew Carere, who treated the man while he was an emergency room physician at The Ottawa Hospital (Carere is currently an emergency room physician in Victoria, Canada.) [27 Oddest Medical Cases]

More:
https://www.livescience.com/64386-black-widow-bite-urinary-retention.html