can you become immune to centipede venom?

[Gandalf4199]

i am from China, in my country, the scolopendra(boiling its body to make soup) is used as medicine hundreds of years ago! , and it is still taken by patients nowadays.

 

[Smokehound714]

Even the smaller species of centipede like the stone centipedes have a VERY unpleasant venom.

I was bit by a rather large specimen, around 4 inches. My whole arm had the same exact feeling you get when you hit your funny bone, and nausea. Horrible combo.

 

[The Snark]

Let's set some things straight. There is no such thing as immunity from repeated exposures to a venom. Resistance, yes, to varying degrees. HOWEVER, there is neither immunity nor resistance to shock as anaphylactic, should it be triggered. As example, one of the worlds foremost cobra handlers who had been tagged numerous times died last year from anaphylaxis from a bite. He went into respiratory arrest within a minute of the bite and the constriction/contraction was so severe his airway could not be opened, all the way down to the bronchi.

As for letting a pede sting you, even if you do develop a resistance you risk Rhabdomyolysis and potential malignant/persistent renal hypertrophy. IE, you are shrugging off the nasty pain and immediate effects as your kidneys slowly become Playdough(tm) and your bones turn to jelly.

 

[AvatarOfShibby]

I got bit by one of the random ones that roam Hawaii, and I wouldn't put myself through that kind of stuff. On a side note this made me think of the movie Princess Bride when I read the topic.

 

[lancej]

Another thing that no one has touched on is the cost of having an immunologist do these injections. It is very expensive, and I highly doubt that health insurance would cover it.

 

[Spepper]

It's a TERRIBLE idea all over. No one should do it. From what I've read here, the only exception would be if they fancied becoming the world's first known centipede-killed human. Case and point. No one in their RIGHT MIND would do it, and if they do want to be killed by a centipede... then they obviously aren't in their right mind.

 

[Willem]

Keeping in mind what Bill S said, and also that you have already abandoned the idea...

EDIT: Also what The Snark said.

The idea in it's self is quite interesting from a scientific standpoint: In a closed and controlled environment (i.e. knowing exactly what the venom is composed of and having all of your medical records like allergies etc), isolating a relatively pure sample, diluting that and then hypothesizing an amount to be injected daily for the purpose of attaining immunity while continuously taking blood/urine/lymph samples and analyzing them.... May make for a very interesting research paper!

This is of course if you don't develop an allergy and die on the second or third injection..... or as Canthinkofone said end up biting a barrel to escape the pain...

Still i'm sure you would be one of the first (if not the first) to attempt this with a centipede.

 

[Biollantefan54]

That is a really interesting idea though. Couldn't you not develop an allergy if you took small enough dosages each time, that way you wouldn't have to much venom in your system to do a lot of damage and by the time you get enough to do damage, your body will have lots of antibodies built up form doing it slowly day to day? Just a thought.

 

[Willem]

That is a really interesting idea though. Couldn't you not develop an allergy if you took small enough dosages each time, that way you wouldn't have to much venom in your system to do a lot of damage and by the time you get enough to do damage, your body will have lots of antibodies built up form doing it slowly day to day? Just a thought.

It's actually quite complicated, it depends largely on your individual immune system, irrelevant of the dose multiple time delayed injections have a good chance of triggering anaphylaxis aswell. It depends on how your body responds: Hypersensitivity or resistance. (VERY simplified)

Also look carefully again at what The Snark said..... Those things in the second paragraph aren't fun at all

 

[Biollantefan54]

I overlooked the Playdough™ kidneys and jelly bones lol, so no matter how much you inject at specified time intervals, you will automatically slowly get Playdough™ kidneys and jelly bones?

 

[cantthinkofone]

Yes the venom can screw those up to that extent.

 

[melijoc]

You would probably need an expert to watch over this type of experiment. I dont see why it shouldnt work

 

[The Snark]

This thread has extended into the realm of medical expertise and experimentation that could lead to jeopardizing AB.

 

[Silberrücken]

This thread has extended into the realm of medical expertise and experimentation that could lead to jeopardizing AB.

I agree with you, The Snark. 100%.

 

[Willem]

This thread has extended into the realm of medical expertise and experimentation that could lead to jeopardizing AB.

My apologies, I did not put enough emphasis on the theoretical (pipe dream) nature of my previous statement. To clarify: This is indeed (as many others have stated before me) a HORRIBLE idea and should not be attempted by anyone.

 

[Greenjewls]

I'm really not worried about anyone trying this twice. Once, maybe. Anyways, what would be the advantage of being immune to Scolopendra venom? Are you really going to go out and grab them bare-handed if you are immune? They will still punch huge holes in you that are likely to get infected. It's a stupid idea but I think it's a cool theoretical inquiry.