News Health & Medicine

A man let snakes bite him 202 times. His blood helped create a new antivenom

Tim Friede stands in the light with a snake on his arm

To build immunity to bites from venomous snakes like this water cobra, Tim Friede injected himself with doses of venom over time.

Centivax

By Meghan Rosen

Tim Friede remembers his worst snakebites in screaming detail.

The first was from an Egyptian cobra. The second, an hour later, from a monocled cobra. Both bites occurred at his home in Wisconsin. Both were from highly venomous snakes. Neither bite was an accident.