Casual Conversation @lemm.ee flango @lemmy.eco.br 6 mo. ago

Mysterious meat allergy passed by ticks may affect hundreds of thousands in US, CDC estimates

edition.cnn.com Mysterious meat allergy passed by ticks may affect hundreds of thousands in US, CDC estimates | CNN

Alpha-gal syndrome – a reaction to a sugar found red meat and dairy products that is caused by lone star ticks – may now be the 10th most common food allergy in the United States, according to new CDC estimates. It is also one of the least recognized.

“This disease doesn’t have to be deadly if we just know about it,” McCullick said. “A lot of people could be saved just from the knowledge that needs to get out there.”

First time I heard about it.

45 comments

As the earth heats up, the environment within which ticks thrive gets larger. It's neat.
- So these ticks which force people to become vegan become more common. More vegans = less heat.
  
  Sounds like a self-correcting mechanism to reduce climate change.
- Not just that, they also won't die off during the colder seasons. Ticks galore.
- Ticks are horrible, we need to start breeding super opossums immediately.
I remember when it was getting popular in the news, but I didn't know it was currently at 10th place in the allergy-lympics.

Does the allergy to red meat wear off or is it permanent?

I looked it up, it looks like it usually wears off, but as the article states there isn't enough research yet to say definitively how long it lasts.

Weeerd.

What the heck is the biological advantage to a tick making a human allergic to red meat?
- Presumably the allergy is a side effect of an actually useful trait.
  
  Or not. Sometimes random genetic shit just happens, and if it's not an actual negative trait it doesn't get selected out.
  
  Yea I guess so. Why do ticks have alphagal venom?
  
  Weird...weird.
  
  I want to know more.
  
  I wonder if there are other allergies you can get from animal bites?
  
  I mean cats can make you allergic to cats by biting or scratching you, I know that.
  
  I just looked it up, but I can't find any other ones.
  
  Oh, this thing says that someone with a pollen allergy can become sensitive to a specific flower if they're frequently bitten by bees that collect nectar from those flowers. Huh.
- Wears off. Took about 7 years.
  
  Woo doggy. You had it? Did your eating habits permanently change or did your eventually go back to eating meat kebabs wrapped in flank steaks eventually?
- whats the advantage of giving humans tbe or lyme disease 🙈?
  
  There's no inherent "advantage" so much as it's a result of the tick feeding off animals with those diseases inside them, and then passing those diseases on via its saliva to later meals like humans.
- There's no advantage. The saliva of the tick just happens to contain a sugar molecule that's also in Red meat and it sets off quite a significant immune response resulting in the affected acquiring a new "allergy" (unwarranted immune response) to the meat. It should theoretically fade with time, but the immune system is a complex beast and works slightly differently in every human.
Hello,

Not sure if this is so fit for this community, maybe !health@lemmy.world would be better?
My sister said she had this. But eventually it went away?
- Can go away, but typically lasts a few years.
  
  Sort of wish pet tick prevention medicines were available... like... just give me the dog heartworm tablets
  
  Isn't that literally ivermectin? As in the horse dewormer that nutcases were taking during COVID because Trump told them to?
  
  yeah as someone on a keto diet and already allergic to soy and coconut... i need this LMAO i'm gonna die if i lose dairy and meat 😭
Good thing I'm vegan.

Edit: the person who downvoted me for simply stating that is a c-u-next Tuesday.
- I wasn't the person to whom you are referring. My downvote is for your edit.
  
  Childish.
When we say red meat, what do we mean? Why not just say meat
You know, i think I'd rather it just be lethal if i had it.
- That's kinda sad. You'd rather die that go without meat?...
  
  I don't eat much red meat, but combine that with cheese and death is preferable.
  
  Someone must go
- Pathetic

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