During a flight from Doha, Qatar to Cape Town, South Africa, Jonathon Hogg felt a sharp pain in his leg. A brown recluse spider bit him on the leg while on board Qatar Airways. The incident nearly cost him his leg.
The 40-year-old lawyer from England took a five-month leave from work. He spent his time working at an orangutan sanctuary in Borneo, Asia's largest island. In June 2015, he took a plane to Cape Town, South Africa for some shark diving adventure.
The six-hour flight on board Qatar Airways was making him a bit uncomfortable. Trying to find a comfortable spot, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his left leg. He saw the spider first. Two flight attendants started screaming 'spider', he said. The pain on his left wasn't really painful. Hogg had to double guess if he had been bitten.
He thought nothing of the ordeal but his left leg starts swelling and bruising. He thought it was a deep-vein thrombosis so he took some painkillers to deal with the pain. The day after his flight, his leg's condition got worse. Colleagues got his attention when they commented that the mark looked like a spider bite.
His leg was nearly bursting and black when he reached the hospital. The diagnosis was just as he had feared. A black recluse spider had bitten him on the leg. The fatal venom could have cost him his leg and his life if he had not been treated on time. He knew something was wrong but he had no idea about the severity until the surgeon explained it to him.
"The pain was like nothing I've been through in my life", said Hogg. "By the time I got to hospital my leg was bursting open, there was pus, it was black."
The venom did much damage. A surgery was needed to remove a large chunk of dead flesh on his left leg. The weight of the ordeal finally dawned on Hogg when the doctors removed the bandages and he saw what was left of his leg. He was devastated but, at the same time, lucky to be alive and still have his leg. Unfortunately, Hogg may require another surgery for the skin graft.
Hogg hired Slater and Gordon, one of the largest law firms in the United Kingdom, to represent him in a potential lawsuit. According to Hogg, Qatar Airways refused to take any responsibility.
In a statement, a spokeswoman from the airline explained that the apart from the inquiry filed by Hogg via the Qatar Airways website in June, there were no reports of the said incident by the aircraft crew. The airline has not received any legal action but gave assurance that they will investigate the matter further once they receive further information.
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