http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23588114-2,00.html
AN OUTBACK Queensland hospital will close temporarily to deal with a poisonous redback spider infestation after concerns they could fall from the ceiling on to patient beds.
Pest controllers were brought in to fumigate the 10-bed multipurpose health service at Baralaba - a town of about 290 people an hour's drive from Moura, in central Queensland.
Fumigator Bruce Dekker, of CQ Propest Services, said the wooden hospital's ceiling was infested with hundreds of redbacks.
"What we're concerned about is that we may get redbacks dropping through some of the air-conditioning ducting or through . . . exhaust fans," he said. "We're concerned that some of these openings are above the patients' beds."
Two aged care residents have been taken to Moura Hospital to allow fumigators to treat the hospital today.
The process will be repeated in a few weeks.
Queensland Health's nursing director for the area, Ellen Palmer, said a general practitioner's surgery would be available for anyone needing medical treatment during the fumigation.
Mrs Palmer said Queensland Health had decided to evacuate the hospital as the safest course of action.
"It's not something that we took lightly" she said. "Nobody's been bitten, but it's purely because the staff are very vigilant.
"You can't really expect that to happen all the time."
Mr Dekker said he had been inundated in recent months with calls from central Queenslanders wanting their properties rid of redback spiders.
"There's been fairly good rains through ... central Queensland and that, combined with the humidity and warmth that's been around, has really made it a fantastic breeding season," he said.
Queensland Museum spider expert Robert Raven said redbacks were a problem at this time of year.
He knew of no unusual outbreaks.
Up to 10,000 Australians are bitten by redbacks annually, with 30-40 per cent of those in Queensland.