Man loses two legs after white-tail spider bite

Terry Pareja is in ICU after a spider bite. Photo / Daily Telegraph

A man has lost both his legs and may have to have his arms amputated after he was bitten by a white-tail spider in Western Victoria.

Terry Pareja from the Philippines was visiting family in Birchip when he was bitten but did not realise anything was wrong until his foot began swelling the following day, the Daily Telegraph reports.

No doctor was available in the tiny town of 662 people - and by the time he sought medical help on Monday, flesh-eating bacteria had taken hold.

His right leg was amputated in emergency surgery at Horsham, and he was flown to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne to have his left leg removed.

Pareja's sister said it could be 18 months before he was able to return home.

His daughter Jeffmarey Pareja started a GoFundMe page to help pay medical bills, saying doctors still had not beaten the flesh-eating bacteria.

"My dad went to Australia to visit my aunts and uncle for they have not seen each other for the longest time," she wrote on the page.

"Now my dad is in ICU having two of his kidneys not working and is aided by kidney support.

"Doctors also discovered that the necrotising fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria) is still there and suggested that they would also amputate ... both arms.

"We do not have much and we are not rich. I am knocking on your hearts to help my dad's medication and hospital bills."

The page has raised $9000 of its $30,000 target.