{"id":30365,"date":"2017-11-11T13:28:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T08:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=30365"},"modified":"2017-11-11T13:28:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T08:28:06","slug":"the-man-who-injects-himself-with-snake-venom-holds-hope-for-new-antidote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=30365","title":{"rendered":"The man who injects himself with snake venom holds hope for new antidote"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON Nov 11 (TNS):<\/strong> For nearly 30 years, London-based reptile enthusiast and musician Steve Ludwin has been injecting snake venom \u2014 a practice that has almost killed him.<\/p>\n

It may now help save thousands of lives, as researchers search for a new antidote based on his body\u2019s response to the toxic fluids.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds very crazy what I am doing but it turns out that it potentially has lots of health benefits,\u201d Ludwin, the tattooed 51-year-old told the media in the living room of his home in the British capital.<\/p>\n

Ludwin demonstrated his decades-old habit by firmly holding the head of a green Pope\u2019s tree viper \u2014 Trimeresurus popeiorum \u2014 and extracting a few drops of its venom.<\/p>\n

Minutes later, he has injected the fluid into his arm using a syringe.<\/p>\n

Over the years Ludwin has injected the venom of some of the world\u2019s most dangerous snakes, including the black mamba and cobras.<\/p>\n

He claimed it has strengthened his immune system so much he has not suffered from a cold in 15 years. But it has not been all positive. \u201cI have had quite a few accidents\u201d, Ludwin said, recalling he once ended up in a London hospital\u2019s intensive care unit for three days following an overdose. \u201cIt\u2019s a very very dangerous thing to do, I don\u2019t encourage people to do it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sensation of injecting snake venom is not pleasant at all\u2026it\u2019s not like a Jim Morrison trip.\u00a0You don\u2019t trip \u2014 it\u2019s extreme pain\u201c, said Ludwin, who wears a snake pendant.<\/p>\n

Ludwin\u2019s unique behaviour is the subject of a short film at a new exhibition on venom opening at London\u2019s Natural History Museum on Friday.<\/p>\n

His habit has taken on new meaning in recent years after a team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen embarked on producing an anti-venom using his antibodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he injects venom, his immune system responds,\u201d Brian Lohse, a professor at the faculty of health and medical sciences at the University of Copenhagen, said in a phone interview. \u201cWhat we expect is to find copies of his antibodies, isolate them, test them, and eventually set up a production of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four full-time researchers, who began work in 2013, expect to complete the project within a year. If successful, it would be the first human-derived anti-venom made from a donor who has injected himself with different snake venoms.<\/p>\n

Antidotes to date have been harnessed by collecting antibodies from animals, usually horses that have been given venom.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s animal-derived antibodies are quite expensive in hospital settings,\u201d said Lohse, noting the average price for a treatment is typically \u00c2\u00a31,500-\u00c2\u00a32,300 ($2,000-$3,000, \u00e2\u0082\u00ac1700-\u00e2\u0082\u00ac2600), but can top \u00c2\u00a311,700 in extreme cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur anti-venoms are aimed to cost a hundred dollars and we hope to make it freely available in countries where people are bitten every day and people die every day,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Lohse said he hopes to distribute the new anti-venom free of charge with the support of governments or non-profit organisations.<\/p>\n

According to the World Health Organisation, snake bites are a \u201cneglected\u201d public health issue.<\/p>\n

It estimates around 5.4 million people worldwide are bitten by snakes every year, and between 81,000 and 138,000 die.<\/p>\n

Although Lohse values the indispensable part Ludwin has played in the venture, he has reservations about his habit.<\/p>\n

\u201cScience, and perhaps future snake bite victims, can express their gratitude towards Steve\u2019s endeavours, but on the other side it\u2019s very dangerous to do self-immunisation,\u201d he said. \u201cSteve has been in serious danger several times, therefore I would strongly discourage anybody to do what Steve has done.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON Nov 11 (TNS): For nearly 30 years, London-based reptile enthusiast and musician Steve Ludwin has been injecting snake venom \u2014 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\u2019s response to the toxic fluids. \u201cIt sounds very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[732],"class_list":["post-30365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-technology","tag-science-and-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30367,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30365\/revisions\/30367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}