The snake collector Friede has built up his immunity by giving himself hundreds of doses of snake venom over the course of 18 years. In addition, he has allowed himself to be bitten by venomous snakes over 200 times.
This involves venom from 16 different species, all of which are life-threatening.
Through the doses and bites, Friede carries a broad spectrum of neutralizing antibodies against snake neurotoxins. This, writes Dagens Medicin with reference to a study in the journal Cell, can pave the way for a universal antidote.
The researchers behind the study have tested a cocktail consisting of the man's antibodies and the toxin-inhibiting molecule varespladib on mice exposed to venom from 19 snake species.
This has shown to provide complete protection from otherwise lethal doses from 13 of the species and some protection against the rest.
The next step is to test the antidote on snake-bitten dogs in Australia.
Annually, tens of thousands of people die worldwide from snake bites and hundreds of thousands more suffer permanent damage.
Existing antidotes usually only work against specific snake species.
