For people who live in Tropical and Amazon regions, having an encounter with a snake isn't a new thing, and a lot of people get bitten by snakes. A lot of people can account for the number of times that they have been bitten by snakes either ones or twice but in all this, the rate of snake bite and death by snake bite is relatively low but there is a man who has bitten over 173 times by snakes, and his name is Bill Haast and he still survived it.
It is important to know that ingesting venomous or unknown substances can be dangerous to you. Also facing and handling snakes can come with great risks which can lead to death because snakes can be venomous. That said, you might begin to wonder how a person could have been bitten by numerous number of snakes and not get affected by them when normally, when a snake bite someone, it can leave them with tingling, paralysis, blurred vision, and if you do not treat yourself fats, you might end up with organ failures and death. This is because Haast injected himself with a small dose of venom cocktail which he made from the venom mix of 32 different snake species daily for 60 years.
His love for snakes began when he was 7 years old, and although he was able to keep his first snake, his first bite was at the age of 12 years which was a bite from a timber rattle snake at a boy scout camp. He was rushed to the hospital but that was not the end as he encountered another snake bite by a copperhead snake in the same year.
Soon his love for snakes increased as he bought his first Snake which is a Diamondback Rattler which was sent from Florida. The love for snake caused him to look at Florida as his future home if he would continue to love snakes. He dropped out of school to become a part of a roadside snake show group and this was how he found himself in Florida.
Soon he opened his Miami Serpentarium which was a road side attraction for people who wanted to see how snake venom were extracted if they bite a soft lid hard and it was also snake lab. Soon he began to put all the venom he extracted into working on how to get snake antivenoms. He would sell the venom to science laboratories that would pay him a very good amount of money. In 1980, Haast developed a snake serum which was used to treat over 6000 people but this serum was banned over time due to some unfound claims.
He also donated his blood which was rich in antivenom to snakebite victims and he was able to do this around the world which earned him honorary awards in different countries such as in Venevuela where he was given a honorary citizen after going into the jungle to donate his blood to a boy who had just been biten by a snake. Haast died at the age of 100 as a result of aging.
Although it is completely wrong for anyone to ingest snake toxins there are a lot of toxins that we consume on a daily without knowing. Haast practiced Mithridatism which is the administration o non-lethal doses of a poison, so as to develop immunity against it. Although mithridatism works, it doesn't offer full immunity as a lot of people think. it is an immunotherapy used to get rid of allergies but while immunotherapy is reducing the immune response, mithridatism is increasing the immune response.
When toxins are introduced into the body via ingestion immunity involves the liver. It is sent to the stomach from the esophagus, then to the intestine where nutrients and chemicals are absorbed into the bloodstream that immediately sends the blood to the liver mde up of millions of cells called lobules which are separated by small spaces which filters toxins and allows the non-toxic blood to keep moving through the body.
When the liver separates them, Kupffer cells and de-arm the toxins by converting a dangerous chemicl to a less harmful one or packaging themfor easier disposal through our bile or urine but this technique is not effective against all types of poison and in some cases, the process of ingesting the toxins can lead to the accumulation of poisons in the body over time sine the method is not functional about it.
The liver might find it difficult to remove the poison depending on the quantity of the toxin in the liver thereby causing it to act as a tolerance isntead of an immunity. It is important to say that instead of practicing mithridatism, it will do more good to visit the hospital if a person is poisoned because it is cheaper and would safe the life easily. It is important to state that the health benefit of mithridatism dangerous and dubious as the body doesn't build full immunity instead it grows resistance, and as we know resistance still means the liver can stop being tolerant as it cannot combat the poisons anymore.
While Haast's unconventional approach is fascinating, it is imperative to stress the dangers and dubious health benefits associated with Mithridatism. Seeking professional medical help in case of poisoning is a safer and more effective option. Haast's legacy, marked by resilience and contributions to snakebite research, remains an extraordinary chapter in the intersection of man and venomous snakes.
Post Reference
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/18haast.html
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/06/07/mithridates-vi/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336665489_Mithridatism
https://www.sharecare.com/health/digestive-health/liver-removes-toxins
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6226566/
https://www.akadeum.com/blog/what-is-immune-tolerance/
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/immune-tolerance
Image Reference
Image 1 ||Needpix || Download Snake Poison Dangerous Free Photo
Image 2 || Pickpik || Posion bottle with shadow on brown wooden surface