Ticks That Can Make People Severely Allergic To Meat Are Spreading In The U.S.

[octoberlib]

Mike Abley will always remember the last hamburger he ever ate. It was more than 20 years ago, and he recalls the meat being particularly juicy and delicious.
But a few hours after dinner, Abley started itching like mad. He burst into hives, his tongue swelled, and he eventually passed out, prompting his wife to call 911. At the hospital, doctors determined he had gone into anaphylactic shock—a potentially deadly allergic reaction.

Fortunately, Abley pulled through, and he later met with an allergist to determine what had caused the terrifying episode. A series of tests revealed something strange: The hamburger had triggered the reaction. And it wasn’t just the beef he was allergic to; it was practically all red meat.

Abley is one of at least 1,500 people in the United States who suffer allergic reactions after eating meat, and doctors interviewed by Popular Science believe such cases are on the rise. But what’s even more bizarre is the source of the allergy. The condition, called alpha-gal allergy, is caused by the bite of a Lone Star tick—a species traditionally found mostly in the Southern United States but has spread farther north in recent years.

And as the tick spreads, more and more cases of meat allergies are being reported. In one area of Long Island, New York, for example, one doctor we spoke with has seen and increase of 200 cases in the past three years—up from practically zero in 2011.

?itok=TqBvGpUR

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/ticks-can-make-people-severely-allergic-meat-are-spreading-us?src=SOC&dom=fb

[Lars39]

1. A family member has this.

He can't have pork, either. He hasn't quite accepted his diagnosis yet. He had a reaction to some soup that he ate that he knew "just had a little bit of beef in it!"

[octoberlib]

3. This is the first time I've heard of it! Wow.

[Lars39]

9. Sounds bizarre, doesn't it.

He's lucky the doctor knew about it or it could have just been brushed off as a reaction to MSG.

[octoberlib]

2. PETA Set to Release Meat-Allergy–Inducing Ticks in Northeastern U.S.

It has been pointed out to me that this blog post is satire. I couldn't tell the difference.

Currently, the ticks are predominantly found in the southeastern United States. But PETA has hatched a plan to release Lone Star ticks in parks in the Northeast, hoping that warming weather and moist conditions will help the ticks thrive. PETA’s Don Beleav, a biologist who is investigating the feasibility of the project, explained how the resulting meat allergies will greatly benefit human beings who come into contact with the ticks:

Just as leeches purify the blood, these tiny insects can help people kick a habit that sucks for animals, human health, and the environment,” says Beleav. “Obviously, PETA’s main goal is to prevent animal suffering, but going vegetarian or vegan helps people lose weight, boosts their immune systems, and lowers their risk of three of our nation’s biggest killers—heart disease, cancer, and strokes.” Beleav continues, “Really the only pushback we anticipate will be from fast-food companies. Maybe McDonald’s will start handing out free flea and tick collars with its value meals!

PETA is also considering offering the bugs by mail for anyone itching to go vegetarian but lacking the willpower to do so.

Read more: http://www.peta.org/blog/peta-release-meat-allergy-inducing-ticks/#ixzz3AfVICNJ9


What is wrong with these people? No concern here that people might actually die from anaphylactic shock?

[Frustratedlady]

8. If this is true, they should be arrested as domestic terrorists.

What's the difference between this and intentionally exposing people to ebola or AIDS?

[Eleanors38]

10. PETA is an extremist group. They don't care about people.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

11. While the tick is real, I think this is their attempt at an April Fool's Day joke.

The biologist's name is "Don Beleav" (Don't believe).

It is rather sad when an organization's attempt at humor is so close to their actual tactics that it becomes difficult to ascertain what's real and what's not.

[octoberlib]

17. I didn't catch that. Thanks!

[cyberswede]

12. I think it's an April Fools Day joke (check the article's date)

The "biologist" is named "Don Beleav."

[octoberlib]

20. Thanks! I missed that. They're crazy enough to do something like this, though.

[L0oniX]

14. PETA is already on the terrorist watch list.

[roguevalley]

25. are they really?

[L0oniX]

27. from Wiki...

Organizations that have been accused of eco-terrorism in the United States include the Animal Liberation Front (ALF),[7] the Earth Liberation Front (ELF),[7] Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Earth First!.[13] The Coalition to Save the Preserves.[27] and the Hardesty Avengers.[28] In 2010, the FBI was criticized in U.S. Justice Department reports for unjustified surveillance (and placement on the Terrorism Watchlist) between 2001 and 2006 of members of animal-rights groups such as Greenpeace and PETA.[29]


Once you are on that list you never get off of it.

[octoberlib]

30. I didn't know this. I have problems with PETA's tactics but this list is troubling.

[L0oniX]

31. I'm waiting for the return of McCarthyism ...only this time it will be over who is a terrorist.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

51. Hmmm

I think I've contributed to several of those, and been a dues paying member to one or two in the past.

Oh well, it's not like I didn't already expect to have an FBI file.

[roguevalley]

56. i think some placements are questionable. thanks for the intel

I support Greenpeace. I might want to see if I am there too

[justiceischeap]

58. And I can tell you exactly how they made it on the list

I worked there at the time they were illegally investigated (meaning, I was probably illegally investigated too). They got on the watch list because they gave bail money to a member of ALF. That's it.

It's worrisome that you can end up on a list like because of paying someone's bail.

[Warren DeMontague]

57. PETA would -never- condone such a thing!

Because it would violate the rights of the ticks.

[KittyWampus]

4. I live on eastern Long Island and know someone who has this. Poker buddy of mine.

[Xipe Totec]

5. PETA's Bio-weapon?

Or ticks competing with us for their food source.


















disclaimer

[L0oniX]

7. "PETA's Bio-weapon" LMFAO ...that's perfect!

On the other hand isn't PETA considered to be a terrorist org now?

[L0oniX]

6. What will the beef corporations do?

[zazen]

16. take this more seriously than Lyme, which is pathetic

The whole Lyme undertreatment and underdiagnosis is a scandal, twisted by a seriously screwed up small group of people with IDSA. Since a lot of money is potentially on the line with STARI, maybe these companies will pour much-needed research into tick transmitted diseases and actually friggin' help people (from a seropositive Lyme patient who "couldn't get Lyme in North Carolina" and therefore went undiagnosed for 12 months). Grrrr.

[L0oniX]

21. Lyme disease is a plague. We don't go camping anymore in Florida because of ticks.

[Sunlei]

19. These are the exact ticks that infest cattle, guess the ticks have evolved. Texas is changing into

plague lands. Warm water full of bacteria, flesh eating parasites.

'Cheat' Grass (wildfire tinder) full of chiggers if the cheatgrass spears don't pierce your skin and all the overgrown brush/weeds full of hungry ticks, left behind when cattle and sheep, trampled & stripped roots with native grass. full of hungry ticks.

Amazing what a short 150 years of grazing pressure did to our pristine lands.!! And how fast insects evolve.

[L0oniX]

22. I imagine they will also be carried by deer and others.

[Sunlei]

23. sure today anything warm blooded moves through tick infested areas gets covered with ticks.

[Downwinder]

37. Don't forget the fire ants and crazy ants.

[Eleanors38]

13. I have a reaction after pork. Falling asleep during the game.

[Sunlei]

26. someone told me feral hogs are covered with ticks so bacon allergy may evolve soon.

oh no Mr. Bill

[Eleanors38]

38. Hell, feral hogs will teach ticks to behave.

[Sunlei]

40. Feral Hogs will evolve to save their own bacon!

[Eleanors38]

67. Feral Hog - Lone Star Tick Alliance™. Think of the tax breaks!

Pig: "Look, dude, I know both sides!"

Tick: "Bro, I know all sides."

[frazzled]

15. The allergy recedes in 8 months to 5 years ...

as long as you're not bitten by another one of these specific ticks. And of course, the allergy is only to mammalian meat products. You can still have poultry and fish.

So the good news is: it's not permanent, and it doesn't mean you can't eat chicken, turkey, or fish.

[WinkyDink]

43. And who would be foolish enough to test the end-date?

[ohnoyoudidnt]

59. There is probably a medical test that could be done.

Like that scratch test the use to test for other allergies

[mucifer]

61. NOT TRUE NIH says you can get anaphylaxis from this:

Our recent work has identified a novel IgE Ab response that has been associated with two distinct forms of anaphylaxis: immediate-onset anaphylaxis during first exposure to intravenous cetuximab and delayed-onset anaphylaxis 3-6 h after ingestion of mammalian food products (e.g. beef and pork). Further studies strongly suggested that tick bites were a cause, if not the only significant cause, of IgE Ab responses to alpha-gal in the United States and internationally.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23743512

This stuff is serious!

[frazzled]

64. Fine, but that doesn't mean the allergy doesn't eventually recede

I never said it wasn't serious. All food allergies can be serious.

[mucifer]

70. Anaphylaxis means you could die from it.

For some people it can recede. I just want to make that point clear.

[frazzled]

71. Yes, all allergies can cause anaphylactic reactions and kill you

You can get an anaphylactic reaction from a bee sting, from latex gloves, from shelfish, or from peanuts if you become allergic to any of these things: and you can die. But that has nothing to do with the fact that this particular allergy is thought--universally--to recede over time; that is to say: the antibody levels have been found to drop over time. (Of course, I wouldn't eat red meat ever again if I had contracted this allergy, because it's just not worth it; I became allergic to peanuts in the 1970s: I suspect I am no longer deadly allergic to them after nearly forty years, but I wouldn't go near a peanut if my life depended on it: the very smell makes me ill from association with my earlier horrible reactions.)

I do not understand what your objection to my (true) statement is. ALL ALLERGIES CAN LEAD TO ANAPHYLAXIS. This tick-derived allergy to red meat can, too. It's a serious condition if undiagnosed. Like all allergies. That has nothing to do with its progression.

I am allergic to peanuts. My mother is deadly allergic to insect bites and has almost died several times from them. I understand the seriousness of allergies. But this has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that with the tick-induced allergy, the antibody levels do recede over a period of years.

Got that?

[Demeter]

18. Thanks for posting this

I never heard of such a thing before...

[valerief]

24. Wow, never heard of this before. I've eaten red meat twice, I think, in the last

20 years (and I don't eat Jell-O or non-veg gelatin capsules), so I don't know know if I've been ticked. Don't want to find out either. Ick!

Thanks for the post!

[conservaphobe]

28. This is even more frightening than Lyme disease.

[eppur_se_muova]

29. I thought the Lone Star Tick was facing indictment ... nt

[Lisa0825]

52. DUzy!!! LOL

[Eleanors38]

69. I saw that. My commendations. nt

[Hun Joro]

32. Go ticks!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

35. Care for a salad?

[Hun Joro]

36. No thanks, just had a tofurky sandwich. :)

[Spitfire of ATJ]

50. I once made vegan barbeque "ribs" from a recipe that used peanut butter.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

33. What a surprise. More to fear.

[arikara]

34. I would rather catch the tick allergy than mad cow

They'll probably be working like crazy to find an antidote for it, with mad cow they just sweep it under the carpet. They can get away with that because the effects come so far into the future. My own theory is that many cases of dementia are actually mad cow.

[WinkyDink]

44. I believe my husband died of it, but it was deemed dementia. Ate raw beef (carpaccio) in the UK.

Last edited Mon Aug 18, 2014, 03:42 AM - Edit history (1)

[arikara]

73. Its very possible

but keep in mind you can catch mad cow even if the meat is cooked. Its caused by a prion that isn't damaged by heat. Apparently, even autoclaving doesn't destroy it which is part of the reason why they are hesitant to open up the brain in order to diagnose. ...that and they don't want to harm the beef industry.
A middle aged woman died of it recently in our town and it was diagnosed. It was kept very hush-hush but small town, word got out locally.

I'm sorry about your husband, my dad is in care with dementia and has been for 10 years.

[WinkyDink]

74. Thank you, and I'm sorry for your father; dementia isn't anything devoutly to be wished. That is

scary about the townswoman, for sure.

We knew something bad was possible when we became part of the group not allowed to give blood, for spending too much time in the UK back in the 80's. Gave up all things beef then.

[Eleanors38]

65. I switched to venison, 2/yr in fair-chase hunt. Lot safer.

[mnhtnbb]

39. I have a friend in Tennessee who developed this meat allergy--suddenly--

about a year ago. After one late night visit to the ER, the doc suggested testing
for the alpha-gal sensitivity and it came up positive.

She is having a helluva time managing her diet--especially when going out to eat.

[WinkyDink]

45. It's pretty easy not to eat meat.

[KitSileya]

48. Yes, and no.

It really depends. You have to get really good at reading the labelling on food, because a lot of products you might not think of have meat extract etc. In addition, many will have to suffer through idiotic friends and family who refuse to understand that you cannot eat certain things. They pressure you to just try it, and try to convince you it's all in your head. To compound that, a lot of restaurants have less than well-educated cooks and waiters who think that just picking the offending item out the dish will suffice.

The very worst are the stories I hear of people with food issues whose friends hide said food in what they serve to "prove" that they are not allergic or intolerant. As someone who is intolerant to shellfish - I don't go into anaphylactic shock, but spend the night throwing up instead - that is a nightmare.

[kickitup]

77. Tell your friend to watch the laundry detergent and soap. My son has this meat allergy . . .

and there is a certain ingredient that is animal derived that breaks him out in a horrible rash.

He's been living with this for about a year and his last test showed a lessening in his reaction. He loves the outdoors so he has to really watch the ticks now or it will be back to square one.

The hardest part for him has been finding hidden meat products in foods and products and making sure no cross-contamination occurs in restaurants or family cookouts. My mother cooks his turkey burgers before cooking hamburgers for others which helps a lot.

He eats a lot of fish, turkey, and chicken. Turkey hot dogs sometimes have mammalian products in the casings so you have to watch those. He carries an epi-pen and is very careful of what he consumes.

[RebelOne]

53. It is easy to stop eating meat.

I stopped in one day after deciding to become a vegetarian. And I have never regretted it. Sometimes though I get a craving to have a juicy sirloin steak. Maybe before I die, I just might give in to the craving.

[Helen Borg]

41. Good for the pigs, I suppose :)

[DFW]

42. How ironic

Ever since my cardiac near-miss ten years ago, I was told to avoid red meat entirely, so I did (and have).

Now, if this extends to fish or cranberries, I'm in trouble......

[ZombieHorde]

46. Bwahahaha!

A tick forcing us to behave well.

[Curmudgeoness]

47. Texas just refuses to keep it's horrors to itself. nt

[whistler162]

54. Which begs the question. Where in Texas are you from?

[AndreaCG]

49. If it gets people to eat less red meat

That's good for the environment and of course the animals. It's been 41 years since I ate meat so it can be done.

[whistler162]

55. Yup, allergies that might kill you before

you know you have it, are always good!<DRIPPING WITH SARCASM>

[Warren DeMontague]

60. Ooooh!!! Think we could get a tick that would make people allergic to looking at smut?!?!?!

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

[pinboy3niner]

62. As Snow White said to the Seven Dwarves...

"You can't look at smut--you're miners."

[mucifer]

63. I'm a vegan. We can die from peanut allergies.

The world is just changing. These anaphylactic reactions to food weren't so prevalent in the '70s or earlier. But, one could say we don't have polio now pediatric cancers are more under control. As we cure some things mother nature finds other ways to do us in.

[Fawke Em]

66. I've been allergic to pork for more than 20 years.

Not red meat, though.

[kwassa]

68. "Ticks Improve Cardiac Health of the Southeastern United States"

Future headline. You heard it here first.

[A HERETIC I AM]

72. I this is for real, it's time to nuke the planet from orbit. n/t

[Zorra]

75. Wow. Maybe the ticks evolved natural mechanisms to make predators sick if they eat

the Texas Tick's sources of food, which is mainly herbivore blood.

Or maybe genetically modified cows are smarter than we could ever know.

[villager]

76. So climate change is spreading a tick that causes people to forgo...

...one of the most climate-wrecking "products," in industrial-raised red meat?

Nature really does bat last.