Posted on 08/18/2014 7:41:22 PM PDT by blam
Loren Grush, Popular Science
August 18, 2014
The Lone Star tick.
Mike Abley will always remember the last hamburger he ever ate. It was more than 20 years ago, and he recalls the meat being particularly juicy and delicious.
But a few hours after dinner, Abley started itching like mad. He burst into hives, his tongue swelled, and he eventually passed out, prompting his wife to call 911. At the hospital, doctors determined he had gone into anaphylactic shock—a potentially deadly allergic reaction.
Fortunately, Abley pulled through, and he later met with an allergist to determine what had caused the terrifying episode. A series of tests revealed something strange: The hamburger had triggered the reaction. And it wasn’t just the beef he was allergic to; it was practically all red meat.
“I’ve always said I think it’s karma,” says Abley, now 73, a lifetime resident of Virginia. “My family have been cattle ranchers for generations.”
Abley is one of at least 1,500 people in the United States who suffer allergic reactions after eating meat, and doctors interviewed by Popular Science believe such cases are on the rise. But what’s even more bizarre is the source of the allergy. The condition, called alpha-gal allergy, is caused by the bite of a Lone Star tick—a species traditionally found mostly in the Southern United States but has spread farther north in recent years.
And as the tick spreads, more and more cases of meat allergies are being reported. In one area of Long Island, New York, for example, one doctor we spoke with has seen and increase of 200 cases in the past three years—up from practically zero in 2011.
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(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I don’t know but I can’t go without red meat.
It gets me to thinkin.
I’m made out of red meat and if it doesn’t make me allergic to myself it stands to reason that eating people would be OK......
No, from the map you can only blame half of Texas. But my desire to stay West of the Mississippi is now keeping West of the Pecos.
As a joke, I’ll still say this. Mad cow disease was due in part to cows being fed some waste products including cow meat. I don’t think it’s a good idea for animals (mamals, whatever) to eat the flesh of their own species.
You’ve never forgiven me for that one, little, tiny act of cannibalism, have you? I mean, it was just a few people. And they were mostly already dead. Sheesh.
There is a similar disease in human cannibalistic societies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_%28disease%29
Heh heh heh, ged ouda here...
Interesting. I hadn’t heard of it, unless it had been a while and I forgot.
Does seem to ring a bell back in back of my mind though.
Ticks are the slimiest, most dishonest vermin around, somewhat like Democrats. Give me a good, honest spider, wasp or hornet to chomp my @ss right upfront.
I am very sorry for your loss, I know how such a loss feels.
Try to not get mad at what I’m gonna say. God didn’t make the tick the bad guy, Satan did that. And, probably to a degree humans. We’ve invented so many pesticides to kill bad things that we’ve made some things worse.
I never heard of lyme disease growing up, and I lived in the woods. You got a tick on ya, you pulled the sucker off and went about your business.
You are yours are in my prayers for your loss.
There is a guy at work who is allergic to meat. He can eat fowl and primates though. I think this is exactly what he has.
He is the only person, that I have met, that had a believable reason why he is a vegetarian.
“He can eat fowl and primates though”
Primates? Like cannibalism?
Same thing here. Lost my beautiful little beagle to tick fever. We did all we could to take care of her before and after. Just pitiful. She was so sick. Every body loved her. She never met a stranger. Never was there a soul that loved life more then she did. The vet stayed with her constantly trying to nurse he back to health. The look in her eyes as she passed tore our heats out. It was a longing to stay with her folks.
We still miss her and it has been years.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I suppose he can eat humans. However, he can eat monkeys and gorillas. Of course, he never will. The only thing I see him eat is fill, beans, eggs, dairy for protein. He doesn’t eat chicken, even though he raises them.
My late husband was clearing brush in Virginia. That night when I checked him over he had 22 ticks to remove. One produced a bulls eye rash so he had a month course of antibiotics. Seemed to do the job. He died of Alzheimers, but had been hit on the head by muggers so that is most likely a contributing cause.
Primates? As in monkey meat?
Ground up gopher guts, turned over stinky feet
Gee I forgot my spoon but I have my straw
ping
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