British holidaymaker 'almost loses leg' after bite from flesh-eating spider

A holidaymaker on the trip of a lifetime almost lost his leg after suffering a flesh-eating spider bite.

Doctors told Jonathon Hogg he could have died after he was bitten by a poisonous brown recluse spider, which he believes happened on a flight from Qatar to South Africa.

Within hours the 40-year-old's leg had ballooned and turned black, and by the time he reached hospital it was "bursting open".

Mr Hogg, from Camden, north London, said:

Doctors rushed Jonathon into surgery and cut away a large part of his leg where the venom had eaten the flesh, but what was left "resembled something from a horror film".

He spent a month in hospital in South Africa, undergoing three operations and a skin graft, but three months on is still receiving medical treatment.

The keen footballer and kickboxer is now terrified of flying and fears he will never play sport again.

Mr Hogg, a barrister, had taken five months off work and worked at an orangutan sanctuary in Borneo before travelling to South Africa in June to dive with sharks when his ordeal began.

Six hours into a flight from Doha to Cape Town he felt a pain in his leg before spotting a spider running across the floor.

But his leg swelled up and became bruised so he took painkillers as he thought it might be deep-vein thrombosis.

The next day it was worse - and he was stunned when colleagues said it looked like a spider bite and he needed urgent medical attention.

Doctors diagnosed a bite from a brown recluse spider, which is venomous and potentially fatal, and warned him he could have lost his leg or even died if he had not been treated.

After an operation to remove the dead flesh, Mr Hogg was horrified to see the damage.

Pictures from YouTube/DanRobinson

Jonathon Hogg has now launched legal action against the airline, Qatar Airways, which he says has refused to accept responsibility.

Richard Duxbury, from law firm Slater and Gordon, representing Mr Hogg, said: