Weird: Man immune to snake poison after subjecting himself to be bitten 100 times

An unemployed American man, Tim Friede "The venom man" claims to have built immune body system to snake venom and injection after subjecting himself to 100 bites from the world's most poisonous snakes.

He released pictures that show him taking and surviving a bite from a water cobra and was so confident he allowed a deadly black mamba to bite him.

The venom from a black mamba would ordinarily kill anyone within 20 minutes but the 45-year-old shows hardly any ill effects and believes the ordeals he is putting himself through will help develop anti-venoms for the third-world.

Tim said:

"When people see what I do they usually swear or ask me if I'm going to die.

"The pictures are a display of my immunity, to prove it works.

"That's the only way people will believe it, and the true test if self-immunization works.

"Letting yourself get bitten requires a very high level of mental pressure, albeit a necessary one to beat snakebite.

"Doing a pure venom injection is one thing, but a bite is a whole new level - and a necessary one."

"What I do is called venom immunotherapy," Mr Friede said.

"I take diluted injections of venom protein over time to build up my immune system.

"What that does is build up good antibodies through time that bind to the venom and neutralize it so I don't die.

"This is the same way they make anti-venom in horses, I just cut the horse out of the picture. I've become the horse."

However, he does suffer side-effects, including anaphylaxis.  

Anaphylaxis is a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can cause death through serious swelling and breathing difficulties.

The pictures show Friede's swollen hand, which is caused by his own anti-bodies attacking his body.

 He added: "I have a solid plan in place, and time will tell if this can come to fruition.

"I hope through developing my own resistance to poison some solid groundwork can be laid to build a vaccine for the 125,000 people that die from snake bites every year.

"At present the poor of Asia and Africa are the majority of the victims."

By proving his own immunity he hopes his work will lead to more efficient and affordable than the type produced from horses that is currently available.