THREE boys from Bolivia have had a lucky escape after they were bitten by a black widow spider.
The trio, clearly Hollywood aficionados, had watched the movie Spiderman and mistakenly believed being bitten by an arachnid would give them super powers.
The boys, aged 12, 10 and eight, spotted the spider while tending goats near their village of Chayanta, and poked the creature with a stick.
Suitably antagonised it bit all three of them, and they quickly started to show symptoms from the poisonous venom including pain, sweating, fever & tremors.
The boys ended up in hospital in La Paz where an antiserum eventually saw them make a full recovery.
Health officials in the USA have warned of a further consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak, with a potential increase in "aggressive rodent behaviour".
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says community-wide closures of restaurants have led to a decrease in food available to rodents, especially in dense commercial areas.
"Some jurisdictions have reported an increase in rodent activity as rodents search for new sources of food.
"Environmental health and rodent control programs may see an increase in service requests related to rodents and reports of unusual or aggressive rodent behaviour," the CDC said.
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