'Explosive increase' of ticks that cause meat allergy in US due to climate crisis

[groundloop]

Source: The Guardian

Blood-sucking ticks that trigger a bizarre allergy to meat in the people they bite are exploding in number and spreading across the US, to the extent that they could cover the entire eastern half of the country and infect millions of people, experts have warned.

Lone star ticks have taken advantage of rising temperatures by the human-caused climate crisis to expand from their heartland in the south-east US to areas previously too cold for them, in recent years marching as far north as New York and even Maine, as well as pushing westwards.

The ticks are known to be unusually aggressive and can provoke an allergy in bitten people whereby they cannot eat red meat without enduring a severe reaction, such as breaking out in hives and even the risk of heart attacks. The condition, known as alpha-gal syndrome, has proliferated from just a few dozen known cases in 2009 to as many as 450,000 now.

“We thought this thing was relatively rare 10 years ago but it’s become more and more common and it’s something I expect to continue to grow very rapidly,” said Brandon Hollingsworth, an expert at the University of South Carolina who has researched the tick’s expansion.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/29/lone-star-ticks-increase-climate-crisis

[waterwatcher123]

1. Those of us who are vegans have been planning this for years (just kidding)!

[ShepKat]

2. I knew it ! (haha)

You'z have been cahootin' all along and finally you get your way ! LOL

[LiberalArkie]

4. Kind of like the Covid pandemic was a godsend for us introverted people with Asperger's.

A reason we stayed home instead of going out.

[CousinIT]

5. I was gonna say....

...YEP!

[Lochloosa]

6. When we get to the point of eating people, go for the Vegans

It's as close to grassfed as you can get.

[Mossfern]

7. lol

[Bayard]

15. Okay--I'm keeping that one!

[waterwatcher123]

20. No, by that time you will be infected by the ticks and the only palatable alternative will tofu or tempeh.

(just kidding, of course).

[chouchou]

3. The ticks are hiding in the hamburger buns.

The Republican ticks will let you off if the Price-is-right.

[Mossfern]

8. I have mixed feelings about this

https://www.theclimateclub.co/weekly-pick-oct-31st/the-environmental-and-climate-impacts-of-ranching-3feyy

From my Google AI buddy:

Pig farming contributes to climate change through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from feed production, manure management, and direct emissions from the animals. Conversely, climate change, particularly rising temperatures, negatively impacts pig production by causing heat stress and affecting feed availability and quality. This interplay creates a cycle where both climate change and pig farming practices exacerbate each other.

[Karasu]

9. I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is the ABSOLUTE worst time in history for us to go fascist. We literally

don't have the time.

Not that there's ever a good time to go fascist and anti-science, mind you. But at this stage of the climate crisis...the effects are going to be beyond devastating.

[DBoon]

10. karma strikes

grazing animals (cattle, sheep) make the most contribution to global warming.

Interesting that global warming would result in the spread of a severe allergy to these products.

per Scientific American:

In truth, every food we consume, vegetables and fruits included, incurs hidden environmental costs: transportation, refrigeration and fuel for farming, as well as methane emissions from plants and animals, all lead to a buildup of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Take asparagus: in a report prepared for the city of Seattle, Daniel J. Morgan of the University of Washington and his co-workers found that growing just half a pound of the vegetable in Peru emits greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.2 ounces of CO2 as a result of applying insecticide and fertilizer, pumping water and running heavy, gas-guzzling farm equipment. To refrigerate and transport the vegetable to an American dinner table generates another two ounces of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases, for a total CO2 equivalent of 3.2 ounces.

But that is nothing compared to beef. In 1999 Susan Subak, an ecological economist then at the University of East Anglia in England, found that, depending on the production method, cows emit between 2.5 and 4.7 ounces of methane for each pound of beef they produce. Because methane has roughly 23 times the global-warming potential of CO2, those emissions are the equivalent of releasing between 3.6 and 6.8 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere for each pound of beef produced.

Raising animals also requires a large amount of feed per unit of body weight. In 2003 Lucas Reijnders of the University of Amsterdam and Sam Soret of Loma Linda University estimated that producing a pound of beef protein for the table requires more than 10 pounds of plant protein with all the emissions of greenhouse gases that grain farming entails. Finally, farms for raising animals produce numerous wastes that give rise to greenhouse gases.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-greenhouse-hamburger/

[Envirogal]

11. Food waste is also exacerbating GHG emissions

The huge amount of food waste that goes to landfill in this country is not only amoral, but it is one of the top contributors to climate change. That and livestock feeding operations (factory farming) because of the condensed impact.

It only makes sense that nature is biting back, literally, to try and thwart humanity’s degradation towards our biosphere. Human growth and longevity (8.1 billion on this planet) cannot sustain this level of abuse without allowing more regenerative practices and systems. Something has to change.

[Unwind Your Mind]

14. We have a law about that in California

A certain percentage of food waste must go into compost instead of landfill

My county is enforcing it for residential, I know not everywhere is

Most important are the businesses, I would think.
Imagine how much restaurants, juice bars and coffee shops must produce

[electricmonk]

12. The horticulturist interviewed is a friend of mine

I remember when she first contracted AG. I had never heard of it before but she's been doing a good job of spreading awareness locally. Here's the original source for her part of the article.
https://cardinalnews.org/2025/06/13/as-tick-borne-illnesses-rise-virginia-to-track-alpha-gal-cases-starting-in-july/

[LDN]

13. 'Explosive increase' of ticks that cause meat allergy in US due to climate crisis

My brother-in-law was diagnosed with Alpha Gal Syndrome. Lives in southwestern KY and Alpha Gal is quite common in this area. He started eliminating all sources (meat and dairy) that were affecting him but then was referred to an acupuncturist. He underwent Soliman Auricular Allergy Treatment (SAAT). It is working for him. May not for everyone but might be worth looking into for those diagnosed.

[Bayard]

16. That is so bizarre

Its hard to get away from ticks when you're outside most of the time. I put on bug spray, and I still have to pick the little varmits off.

We need a human equivalent of Nextgard.

[Old Crank]

17. Of course all reporting will be from out of the country

because the US will soon have no records of illness or death.

Or have any plans to reduce the spread of the tics.

[electricmonk]

19. The link I posted above

is about the Virginia Department of Health starting to track the spread of Alpha Gal in Virginia. It should be done on a nationwide scale through the CDC but I guess we're just going to be like 50 different countries now. Hopefully some of the smarter states will join together and form coalitions to fill in the gaps of what the feds should be doing.

[maxsolomon]

18. Well, Climate Change has been repealed, so that can't possibly be why the ticks are spreading.

It must be punishment from Jehovah for our wickedness.