Historically, spiders in Europe were thought to carry diseases. During the 14th century, the Black Plague swept across Europe killing millions of people. People believed that any food that a spider had touched was infected. Spiders were believed to bring death. But actually, the plague was spread by infected rats not spiders. In western countries, nine out of 10 people who suffer from arachnophobia are women. Of course, the tendency of Hollywood to make cheap science fiction movies about giant spiders does not help those with arachnophobia.