Lone-Star Tick, Flickr, some rights reserved, b_nicodemus
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See People\’s Pharmacy for more information.
According to the well-respected PBS radio program, “People’s Pharmacy,” a Lone-Star tick bite can cause a delayed allergic reaction to red meat and other substances.
Once the tick bites you, you can get an allergic reaction or go into anaphylactic shock every time you eat the offending food. It sounds strange, yet this disease is showing up all over the Southeast, which is widely inhabited by the Lone-Star tick.
Apparently patients began to show up in ERs with a delayed anaphylactic reaction to–at that time–an unknown substance. If an affected person ate red meat, the allergic reaction often happened many hours after the initial exposure to the meat. Typical allergic reactions occur soon after ingestion of the offending food, not nine hours later.
Mike Beck, who had received tick exposure during yard work, woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach ache, rash, and hives. He had eaten red meat before going to bed. The second time he ate red meat, he went into serious anaphylactic shock, and had he not gone to the ER, he would have died. The only cure for him was to avoid all red meat.
Researchers and physicians discovered that something in the tick saliva encourages antibodies to a substance called Alpha-Gal. Due to these antibodies, the tick bite induces a reaction or anaphylaxis to certain foods or products.
What to look for: Beware of areas heavily inhabited by deer (whose population is rapidly expanding), as deer carry ticks. If you are bitten by a Lone-Star tick, and you receive intense itching (a hallmark sign of Alpha-Gal), you should probably take action, especially if you have some kind of allergic reaction after eating red meat or other foods. At that point, you will want to purchase an Epi-Pen, a kit you can carry with you at all times to arrest anaphylaxis.
My father has this condition, although it was never properly diagnosed. He has only been diagnosed with a food allergy. I learned about the actual disease from an article in the 2009 issue of the Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/19/AR2009101902874.html. My father often has problems if red meat touches the same surface as chicken. The thing that fascinated me most was that it happens to men more often than women. Also, the reaction is often delayed, until it is being broken down by the pancreas. I hope this information can help you!
Well, this is both surprising and kind of bizarre. Did they say anything about how long the tick was attached in cases where allergy developed?
I don’t remember anything about length of attachment, but you can listen to the podcast of the radio program. It is rather bizarre. I didn’t believe it at first, until I heard that the information came from “People’s Pharmacy.”
I didn’t listen to the podcast, but I often get a strong reaction to the Lone Star tick bites. Severe itching almost immediately and huge swelling. I don’t have a time period of attachment that I can recount, but it is like having an allergic reaction to the tick. I don’t have this illness even though I seem to have the initial symptoms. I may be able to describe it more if I listen to the podcast and stop and think about the multiple reactions I have had, along with my dad.
Thank you so much Beth. The additional information is appreciated, and I’m sure it will be of benefit to my readers!