The man who has left more than 200 times by poisonous snakes and could be the “definitive antiviene”
Scientists believe that the blood study of a bite man poisonous snakesMore than 200 times -explains on purpose – I could reveal the possibility of creating an anti -year -old to better treat the snake bites. Tim Friede has been fascinated by reptiles and other poisonous creatures for a long time. Like hobby, he pulled the poison of Scorpions and Spiders and had dozens of snakes in his home in WisconsinUSA.
Hoping to protect against snake bites – and for what he calls “simple curiosity” – he began to inject small doses of Venom of Serpente And then the amount was gradually increasing to try to tolerance. Then he let the snakes bite him. “At the beginning I was very afraid”Friedde dice. “But the more you do it, the better you are given, the more you come back with it”. Although no medical emergency doctor or technician – nobody, in reality – would ever suggest that this is or remotely a good idea, experts say that their method follows the functioning of the body.
What happens when a snake bites you?
When the immune system is exposed to snake poison toxinsdevelops antibodies which can neutralize the poison. If it is a small amount of poison, the body can react before it is overwhelmed. And if it is a poison that the body has seen before, it can react more quickly and manage great exhibitions.
Friede resisted snake bites and injections for almost two decades e He still has a refrigerator full of poison. In the videos published on his YouTube channel, he shows the brands of Zanne swollen in the arms of Black Mamba Bites, Taipán and Water Cobra. “I wanted to get as close as possible to death, to the point of disconcerting and then go back,” he explains.
But Friede also wanted to help. He sent and -mail to all the scientists he found, asking them to study the tolerance he had developed. And it is necessary: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 110,000 people die every year by snake bite. But The production of an antidote is expensive and difficult. It is often created by injecting large mammals, such as horses, and collecting the antibodies they produce. These antivenians are effective only against some species of snakes, sometimes they can produce adverse reactions due to their non -human origin.
When Peter Kwong, Columbia University, he heard of Friede, he said: “Wow, this is very unusual. He is a very special individual with incredible antibodies that has created over 18 years”. In a study Posted on Friday in the magazine “Cell”Kwong and his collaborators explain what they were able to do with Friede’s unique blood. Identified two antibodies which neutralize the poison of many different species of snakes, with the aim of producing a treatment that could offer wide protection.
In years of human use
It is a very incipient investigation; The antiviene Has been tested only in miceAnd the researchers are still long years after human tests. And although his experimental treatment is promising against the group of snakes that includes Mambas and Cobra, it is not effective against Viperewho include snakes like rattles.
“Despite the promising, There is a lot of work to do“Says Nicholas Casewell, investigator of the snake bites at the Tropical Medicine School in Liverpool (who did not participate in the study), in an e -mail sent to the Associated Press news agency.
Friede’s journey was not exempt from setbacks. For example, Part of a finger had to be cut after a snake bite. And some particularly unpleasant morsels sent to the hospital. Friede now works for Centivax, a company that tries to develop treatment and who has helped pay the study. The idea that his 18 -year -old Odyssey One day you can save live lives from the snake bites, but your message to those who are encouraged to follow their steps is simple: “Don’t do it,” he says.
