Imagine willingly letting some of the planet’s most venomous snakes sink their fangs into your flesh, not once or twice, but over two hundred times! Sounds like something straight out of a bonza bushman’s tall tale, eh? But for one extraordinary bloke from Wisconsin, USA, this skin-crawling reality became his life’s work. Tim Friede, a fair dinkum legend in his own right, embarked on a bizarre and unbelievably brave mission: to turn his own blood into a weapon against deadly snake venom.
A Mate Against the Bite
For over two decades, Tim copped bites from some truly nasty critters – the Egyptian cobra, the black mamba, the diamondback rattlesnake, just to name a few of the venomous varmints. It all started with a personal worry about accidental snakebites, but Tim soon realised his peculiar tolerance could be a game-changer for folks around the globe.
As he told National Public Radio, those early nips were “really crazy,” like a bee sting amplified a thousandfold, sending anxiety levels through the roof. But he stuck with it, gradually building up his resistance to the potent toxins.
From Ouch to “Aha!” Moment
Tim’s unusual blood held the key that scientists had been searching for. Jacob Glanville, the clever clogs CEO of a biotech mob called Centivax, saw the incredible potential. He reached out to Tim with a rather direct request: “This might be awkward, but I’d love to get my hands on some of your blood.”
And just like that, an unlikely partnership was forged. The goal? To whip up an antivenom that could tackle a whole range of snake venoms, not just one at a time.
Brewing a Life-Saving Cocktail
The brainy boffins at Centivax got to work, studying Tim’s blood to isolate the powerful antibodies he’d developed. They focused on the venom from 19 of the World Health Organization’s most dangerous snakes.
Incredibly, they found two antibodies in Tim’s blood that worked against 13 of these deadly species! To make their antivenom even more potent, they added a synthetic antibody to the mix. The result? In trials with little furry mates (mice, that is), this cocktail fully or partially neutralised the venom from all 19 snakes they tested.
Andreas H. Laustsen-Kiel, a top biotechnologist from Denmark who wasn’t part of the study, told Science News that this combo was possibly the best one published to date.
A Global Problem, a Local Hero
Snakebites are a massive issue around the world, especially in poorer tropical areas. The World Health Organization reckons millions of people cop a venomous bite each year, and tragically, somewhere between 81,000 and 138,000 of those bites end in death. Even if you survive, the consequences can be crook – permanent disabilities like losing a limb are sadly common. As Stuart Ainsworth, a snakebite expert from the University of Liverpool, explained to NPR, these bites can lead to horrific surgeries and skin grafts.
The current way we treat snakebites can be a real headache. If the doctors don’t know what type of snake did the deed, they’re in a pickle about which antivenom to use. And as Jacob Glanville pointed out to The Guardian, chasing after a venomous snake after it’s bitten you isn’t exactly a top-notch plan. This is where Tim’s incredible blood comes into the picture, offering the hope of a single antivenom that could work against a whole swag of different snakes.
What’s Next for Our Mate Tim?
The team at Centivax aren’t resting on their laurels. They’re keen to test their antivenom on animals brought into veterinary clinics with snakebites before they move on to human trials. This groundbreaking work is inching scientists closer to that long-sought dream: a universal antivenom. For Tim Friede, the bloke who willingly faced down death hundreds of times, the feeling is pretty overwhelming. As he told The Washington Post, knowing that what he’s doing could change medical history is something truly special. What a legend!
