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For nearly 30 years, London-based reptile enthusiast and musician Steve Ludwin has been injecting snake venom—a practice that has almost killed him.
It may now help save thousands of lives, as researchers search for a new antidote based on his body's response to the toxic fluids.
"It sounds very crazy what I am doing but it turns out that it potentially has lots of health benefits," Ludwin, the tattooed 51-year-old told AFP in the living room of his home in the British capital.
Ludwin demonstrated his decades-old habit by firmly holding the head of a green Pope's tree viper—Trimeresurus popeiorum—and extracting a few drops of its venom.
Minutes later, he has injected the fluid into his arm using a syringe.
The scientists hope to produce cheaper anti-venom from the antibodies in his blood.
[Please note that this is very dangerous and Mr. Ludwin has almost died a number of times. Don't try this at home! - Ed]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by legont on Saturday November 11 2017, @10:35PM
A couple decades ago there was an article in Playboy about a man in Texas with snake ranch. He was old and complaining that none of his many children wants to inherit it. He himself was bitten many times over the years by dozens of snake species. He survived even though had one hand completely paralyzed and other injuries. Anyway, for the subject, he said that he could retire years ago because his blood cost a small fortune as an antidote when the snake in question was unknown.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.