A pensioner aged 68 with a heart condition died of complications caused by a spider bite, said the spokesman for the hospital in Constanta, Romania's major port along the Black Sea.

Most of those taken to hospital after suffering bites these past few weeks were out of danger and have been released, the spokesman added. He said the bites had triggered headaches, dizziness or muscular spasms.

Medical experts in Constanta are to examine some of the spiders, which first appeared with the scorching temperatures in the area a few weeks ago and are said to look like North and South America's poisonous black widow.

TERRA.WIRE