Sep 22, 2026 · 29 min · 13 segments
Jellyfish, spiders, snakes, ticks, bees and even blue-ringed octopuses – Australia is home to plenty of creatures that can bite or sting. Which encounters are genuinely dangerous, and what should…
Darren RobertsGuest
Sophie DelezioHost
Should you try natural remedies like toothpaste or bicarb pastes? Or I've even heard of Vegemite.
And the different proteins that are sometimes associated with the bite can cause some inflammation or swelling or redness or itchiness, which is generally fairly mild in most cases.
I think that's true to an extent because what that suggests is that person is more sensitive from an allergic perspective, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to get allergy beyond that site.
So what we're seeing there is that when it's red and swollen and itchy, that relates to the immune system has been sensitized or turned on by the activated immune might be a better term from a protein that's in there.
And so when you get a strong redness then and it's walled off, that actually suggests that the body's then contained what that problem is.
But there are some people who get those reactions and then they can get other allergic reactions such as breathing problems.
So I'd be alert when those sorts of things happen to see what progresses, but it's not a sign just because of a big local reaction that you need to go to a hospital.
And when I say big local reaction, I mean, for example, like a 20-cent coin size.
If we're talking about half of the arm is starting to swell up, which sometimes happens with wasps and stings, I'd probably be more concerned by that, about the risk of a severe allergic reaction, which might affect breathing.
So you're saying basically look more for other signs as well as a larger reaction.
So the most important signs we'd worry about if someone's having an allergic reaction that affects beyond the bite site would be, there's a number of things.
Should you try natural remedies like toothpaste or bicarb pastes? Or I've even heard of Vegemite.
And the different proteins that are sometimes associated with the bite can cause some inflammation or swelling or redness or itchiness, which is generally fairly mild in most cases.
I think that's true to an extent because what that suggests is that person is more sensitive from an allergic perspective, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to get allergy beyond that site.
So what we're seeing there is that when it's red and swollen and itchy, that relates to the immune system has been sensitized or turned on by the activated immune might be a better term from a protein that's in there.
And so when you get a strong redness then and it's walled off, that actually suggests that the body's then contained what that problem is.
But there are some people who get those reactions and then they can get other allergic reactions such as breathing problems.
So I'd be alert when those sorts of things happen to see what progresses, but it's not a sign just because of a big local reaction that you need to go to a hospital.
And when I say big local reaction, I mean, for example, like a 20-cent coin size.
If we're talking about half of the arm is starting to swell up, which sometimes happens with wasps and stings, I'd probably be more concerned by that, about the risk of a severe allergic reaction, which might affect breathing.
So you're saying basically look more for other signs as well as a larger reaction.
So the most important signs we'd worry about if someone's having an allergic reaction that affects beyond the bite site would be, there's a number of things.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
