Peters not sure what bit him

Winston Peters

Any hope Winston Peters may have had that the media would ask him today about his meeting with a visiting Afghanistan human rights commissioner, rather than the mystery illness he suffered last week, was short-lived.

In his first public appearance since being struck down following a trip to Asia, the Foreign Minister hoped to get away with a succinct answer to the inevitable questioning.

His relationship with the Press Gallery has been stormy lately, and his eyes momentarily flashed with anger when the first reporter dared to ask a question about his illness.

But Mr Peters maintained control and said: "I had a virus, I am getting over it... and that's it really."

The gathered journalists at the press conference in Wellington had politely asked some questions of Afghanistan Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Sima Samar.

But it was only a matter of time before someone asked about the illness Mr Peters contracted in Malaysia that saw him admitted to an isolation ward in an Australian hospital.

Reporters wanted to know: Was it a spider? Where did it bite? Did it survive?

He said media reports, which included claims that a spider bit him on the backside and that he suffered an outbreak of black spots, did not have "a shred of truth".

Then finally came the question which everyone had been dying to ask.

"Were you bitten, Mr Peters?" one reporter inquired.

"Yes I was," Mr Peters replied, adding that he did not know what by.

Then came the next question on everyone's mind. "Whereabouts?"

The expectation was that if Mr Peters had any venom left inside him it would come out now. However, it seemed his treatment in Australia had also given him a humour transfusion.

"On my lower leg, if you must know, and that's the end of the prognosis," Mr Peters laughed.

"I am making a very, very speedy recovery."

Asked if his illness would make it more difficult for him to travel, Mr Peters said he did not think so, but turned to the visiting Dr Samar and questioned her instead - "Are you a medical doctor by the way?"

A relaxed and healthy looking Mr Peters ignored a question about the nature of his alleged spots and walked away saying it been "a good way to lose weight."

- NZPA