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Posted by Wes von Papineäu on September 19, 2001 at 10:14:37:
JOURNAL-SENTINEL (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 19 September 01 Antivenin crusader - Man lets snakes bite him to show immunity is likely (LAURIA LYNCH-GERMAN)
Richfield - Calling it his service to humanity, Tim Friede lets snakes bite him as part of his effort to prove humans can be immunized against venom.
A week ago, the 33-year-old set up a video camera and pulled two cobras from cages in his basement and let them bite. He wanted to see what would happen and whether his yearlong project would protect him from the venom.
He spent several hours paralyzed, unable to speak or communicate with doctors. But he did not die - he believes because he's been injecting himself with diluted snake venom for the past year.
"I wanted to see if I could take two big hits and survive," he said. "I did it. I proved that. I've found a way to inoculate and survive."
His left arm has a blaze of bright red, punctuated by two small holes left by the fangs of the first cobra. The middle finger of his left hand is slightly swollen from the second bite. It was the second bite that nearly did him in.
"I didn't know for awhile if I was alive or dead," he said, adding that he tried crawling to his refrigerator, where he keeps a stock of antivenin. "In the hospital, I could hear voices all around me, but I couldn't talk to them."
He left a Milwaukee-area hospital two days after he was bit. It took six vials of antivenin to counteract the bites - substantially less then it would take in most cases, according to his personal physician.
Friede says he injects himself with the venom to prove that a person can build up immunity to its toxic effects. He believes there may also be some positive secondary effects from the injections.
"I haven't been sick for a year," Friede said. "I used to have allergies, and I haven't had a problem this year."
Friede's work is with his snakes, and he hopes to build a lab someday to continue his work with the creatures. He also hopes to complete his education. But for now, he says, he's "a broke, un-degreed scientist."
His wife, Beth, is supportive.
"I was scared at first," she said. "But I am so confident in what he's doing. I know it would kill him inside if I told him he had to stop."
Friede said he would like his research - and himself - studied by biochemists who investigate the effects of venom on the human body. Experiments are done on rats and other animals, he said, but no one can say how those conclusions will translate to humans.
"What I do is a service for humanity, plain and simple," he said. "Researchers can use myself to study the effects the bites have on me. So I proved I can survive? So what? It only matters if other people can benefit."
Washington County Sheriff's Department reports indicated the bites were accidental and that Friede had been drinking before the incident. Friede said he had a couple of beers hours earlier but was not handling the snakes improperly, as a witness indicated.
Friede said he is not crazy and that he is very careful when he handles his snakes. And, he said, he treats his snakes with respect and care.
Friede's treating physician, Lorraine Gauthier, said she knew he was self-injecting as a way to protect himself from the potential danger. Her office has developed a protocol on treating Friede to aid office employees and emergency workers.
"My main goal was just to protect him," she said. "He made me aware of what he was doing, that he was extracting venom. I wanted to have a protocol mostly for peace of mind."
Gauthier said Friede is extremely knowledgeable about the snakes, the venom and the potential dangers. Still, she said, she did her homework.
"I didn't take everything he said at face value," she said. "I did a lot of research into what he would need if he was bitten."
Gauthier, who has an office in Belgium, issued a stern warning to others who might think emulating Friede is a good idea.
"Don't try this at home, kids," she said. "He's a really bright guy. He just has a passion I don't understand."
Friede says he has been in contact with leading scientists who study the effects of venom. He was preparing to send an overview of his self-injection program to a researcher at Colorado State University, but that was slightly delayed when he was bitten by the snakes.
Friede's desire to be studied by scientist is highly unusual, according to a spokeswoman from the Medical College of Wisconsin.
"There is a very rigid protocol that a researcher would have to go through before a project would involve humans," Toranj Marphetia said. "There would be an assessment of the benefits and the risks, what could be gained, medical concerns, does the study merit the use of humans and other questions."
There are also federal guidelines that must be met, Marphetia said.
Friede knows all that but says finding a way to keep people in developing countries from dying of snake bites is worth it.
"This is a lifetime's worth of work for me, and I've proved the immunization works," he said. "That means there is a way to create an immunization plan for developing countries and it saves lives."
While Friede sipped coffee in his home, his young son zipped around the house. Friede watched him and then answered the one question that hadn't been asked.
"No, I don't have a death wish," he said. "I have a lot of things I want to do; I have a wife, a son, a family. But I had to see how far I could go with this. I don't regret it."
Friede has a very dry sense of humor. When asked if he names the snakes, he said he calls them all the same thing:
Killer.
