Snake Man: His Immunity Might Cure Bites

If you're afraid of snakes then look away now. Tim Friede from Wisconsin, USA is certainly not afraid of snakes and has been bitten hundreds of times — often on purpose. Now scientists are studying his blood in the hope of creating a better treatment for snake bites.

Friede has long had a fascination with reptiles and other venomous creatures. He used to milk scorpions' and spiders' venom as a hobby and kept dozens of snakes at his Wisconsin home. Hoping to protect himself from snake bites — and out of what he calls “simple curiosity” — he began injecting himself with small doses of snake venom and then slowly increased the amount to try to build up tolerance. Friede explains his method: “I take it out and I basically let it bite my arm. And the reason I do that is for shock value to bring awareness for snakebite.

Nobody wants to see me just inject a lethal dose. That's boring. So what I did is I intentionally got bit to prove a point and film it, to represent the people that die from snakebites. I wasn't looking to be a YouTube star or anything like that. It's all about the science for me, 100%.” It falls under the category of 'DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME' and no doctor or emergency medical technician — or anyone, really — would ever suggest this is a good idea, but experts say his unorthodox method tracks how the body works. When the immune system is exposed to the toxins in snake venom, it develops antibodies that can neutralize the poison.

If it's a small amount of venom the body can react before it's overwhelmed. And if it's venom the body has seen before, it can react more quickly and handle larger exposures. Friede has withstood snakebites and injections for nearly two decades and still has a refrigerator full of venom. In videos posted to his YouTube channel, he shows off swollen fang marks on his arms from black mamba, taipan and water cobra bites. But Friede also wants to help. He emailed every scientist he could find, asking them to study his body and the immunity he'd built up. And there is a need: Around 110,000 people die from snakebite every year, according to the World Health Organization. Making antivenom is expensive and difficult. It is often created by injecting large mammals like horses with venom and collecting the antibodies they produce.

These antivenoms are usually only effective against specific snake species, and can sometimes produce bad reactions due to their non-human origins. Peter Kwong from Columbia University says: “So in this study, what we're really excited about are two things. First, we might have a working cocktail that could be developed in a few years, but also it shows what the human immune system can do.

We have antibodies produced in a human that might save other humans moving forwards in terms of a universal antivenom.” In a study published in the journal Cell, Kwong and collaborators shared what they were able to do with Friede's unique blood: They created an experimental antivenom that they hope could one day treat bites from many different snake species. “So Tim basically created a procedure that allowed broad recognition of many, many different toxins moving forward, and that recognition allowed him to be protected from snakebites, and what we're hoping to do is take that same protection but not have to have everyone undergo 18 years of immunization and snake bites, ultimately. But instead, isolate and identify the best antibodies.

Or we can combine with small molecules to create anti-venom from Tim's amazing blood," says Kwong. It's very early research — the antivenom was only tested in mice, and researchers are still years away from human trials. And even though their experimental treatment shows promise against the group of snakes that include mambas and cobras, it's not effective against vipers, which include snakes like rattlers. “I picked the most dangerous ones in the world, black mambas, taipans, cobras, kraits, coral snakes, rattlesnakes." says Friede. "I couldn't get every single snake I wanted to have. Some you just can't get. And I don't like taking stuff out of the wild. So, you know, I had to pick and choose.” Friede's journey has not been without its missteps.

Among them: He said after one bad snake bite he had to cut off part of his finger and some particularly nasty cobra bites sent him to the hospital. Friede explains the risks he has faced: “I had no antivenom. I worked with no doctors. Well, I do now, but back then I didn't, I just had so much confidence on what I was doing to where I didn’t want to back up. And it made me stronger and better at what I did because I depended on myself.

And if I failed and I died, then I die, I mean, it was that simple. It became a lifestyle actually.” Friede is now employed by Centivax, which is trying to develop the treatment, and he's excited that his 18-year odyssey could one day save lives from snakebite. “When I was doing it, I sat back after about a year and just realised that people died from snakebite and I wasn't dying. So at that point I decided I have to reach out to every scientist on the planet. Which I did, reached out to a lot of them. Can you study me? What can we do to save people from snake bite? And that just escalated like crazy. It just went nuts, for good reasons though. I became the horse. I took the horse out the picture. And that's how they make anti-venom, in horses. So I used myself," he says.

But his message to those inspired to follow in his footsteps is quite simple: “Don't do it!" But if one day his blood could save lives, then it's been worth it. “It's nice to be part of something that changes medical history, herpetology, immunology, and science," says Friede. Friede could be making hiss-tory.