The Lone Star Tick Can Give You a Meat Allergy!

The bite of Lone Star ticks may be forcing thousands of people to never pick up a hamburger again. These ticks are sweeping across the Southeast United States, and have been associated with a severe allergy to red meat, according to doctors.

Robert Valet, a professional at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, says that the Vanderbilt Asthma, Sinus, and Allergy Program (ASAP) clinic is seeing at least one new case of Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal) every week.

After hearing and comparing the stories and symptoms of dozens of these unfortunate patients, Valet and his colleagues agree that there appears to be a relationship between this allergy and the Lone Star tick bite.

"It is not completely understood exactly how the allergy starts," Valet said in a recent release. "The thought is that the tick has the alpha-gal sugar in its gut and introduces it as part of the allergic bite and that causes the production of the allergy antibody that then cross-reacts to the meat."

Alpha-gal is a sugar that is most commonly found in red meats and pork. If someone develops a severe allergy to this sugar, they will find themselves breaking out in hives, with potential swelling and difficulty breathing after chewing down on their favorite burger or steak. Other symptoms may include vomiting, diarrhea, and even a dangerous drop in blood pressure.

"I think it is something that certainly belongs among the most important food allergies, particularly in the Southeast," Valet added. "Certainly these patients can present with every bit as severe of an allergy as someone who is allergic to peanuts."

Thankfully, all that is good and meaty in the world is not lost. Chicken, eggs and fish are all perfectly harmless to people with this allergy, and alpha-gal is certainly easier to avoid than peanut oils. However, while a severe peanut allergy is rare, the alpha-gal allergy is becoming relatively common for a severe food allergy.

Valet and other experts are blaming tick bites, namely from the Lone Star, the European Caston Bean, and the Australian Paralysis tick for this surge. The Lone Star tick in particular has been deemed a very aggressive biter by entomologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who urge people on the southeast coast to cover up before entering tall grasses.

"We know that getting repeated tick bites causes the level of allergy antibody to rise," said Valet, "and so we do recommend people with this allergy do good tick avoidance [as well]."