Snake bites can be very dangerous. Tim Friede knows this all too well. The Wisconsin man was hospitalized after two cobra bites. But that did not keep him away from snakes. In fact, it had the opposite effect. He began exposing himself to small amounts of snake venom to protect himself against future bites.
Now, after 200 snake bites, his body is immune [protected] to many different types of snake bites. And his blood is being used to make a medicine that could protect people around the world.
There are medicines for treating snake bites. But there are 600 types of venomous [able to inject venom] snakes. The medicines are usually made for one or a few different types of snakes. This means that the correct medicines are not always available. And doctors don’t always know what type of snake the bite came from.
Scientists tried to make a medicine that would work for different types of snake bites. They used Tim Friede’s blood. Though there is still more work to do, the medicine worked well. In tests on mice, it worked for 19 of the world’s deadliest snakes.
What Do You Think? Why did scientists use Tim Friede’s blood to make the new medicine?
Photo Credit: (t)McGraw Hill, (b)Marie Holding/iStock/Getty Images
