An Australian has been bitten by a venomous spider on the penis for a second time. Which part of the body do you most want to avoid getting bitten or stung, asks Jon Kelly.
To be bitten once on the penis is unfortunate. A second time and you'd wonder if you were cursed.
On Tuesday the 21-year-old tradesman, identified only as Jordan, was using a portable toilet on a Sydney building site when he was bitten by a redback spider. Again.
"I'm the most unlucky guy in the country at the moment," he lamented to the BBC. The redback's bite causes severe pain, sweating and nausea.
But was this the worst place he could have been bitten?
From "both experience and thinking it through", its possible to identify the least desirable places to be bitten or stung by invertebrates like spiders, bees and wasps, says entomologist Prof Adam Hart of the University of Gloucestershire.
Firstly, fleshy parts of the body, where there's extra room to inject venom and greater capacity for swelling. Secondly, areas with a lot of nerve endings, which are more sensitive and therefore painful. Hart says he's been stung by insects on his scalp, and this was far less unpleasant than when he was stung on a fleshy part of his arm.
But if you were to rank by preference all the places you could be bitten, "right at the bottom would be the penis", Hart says. "Genitals are fleshy and have lots of nerve endings."
