The Risk of Becoming Allergic to Meat After a Tick Bite May Be Higher Than Thought

The tick menace is even worse than we thought. A pair of new studies this month suggests that there are more tick species out there in the U.S. that can cause an unusual form of allergy to red meat. Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials published the research late last week in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The studies detail cases of red meat allergy, formally known as alpha-gal syndrome, tied to bites from two tick species not normally associated with it—ticks that also cause Lyme disease. These cases seem rare, but indicate that more people are at risk for the syndrome than currently assumed. Alpha-gal is a sugar found in the muscles of most mammals, though importantly not humans. We can normally tolerate the alpha-gal found in the meat we eat without issue. But for reasons we’re still trying to understand, a tick bite can sometimes cause our bodies to develop an overactive immune response to alpha-gal, essentially mak ... Read full article.