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Posted on 12/27/2021 11:45:30 AM PST by Red Badger
When a 56-year-old farm worker from just outside Kansas City in Missouri, US, began noticing a rash on his waist and arms within hours of chowing down on a hamburger seven years ago, he wasn't sure what to make of it.
Like so many with alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), the path from tick bite to meat allergy wasn't a clear-cut one.
The hives and rashes didn't always appear after a meal containing meat, after all. Or they could pop up several times in one week. There was a shortness of breath on rare occasions, but nothing so bad it warranted a trip to the doctor.
In this specific case, summarized recently in the medical journal BMJ Case Studies, the patient's history was further complicated by seasonal allergies and treatment for the HIV he contracted at 21.
For years he'd report his symptoms to doctors, without any progress towards a concrete diagnosis. Changing detergents didn't help. Nor did wearing new clothes. Frustratingly, food allergies were initially ruled out, as symptoms generally occur within minutes of the consumption of the food you're allergic to, not hours.
His isn't an uncommon story. Roughly 3 percent of the population in some areas of the US is reported to have the kind of symptoms associated with AGS, though in truth we still know little about its prevalence.
For a disease that no doubt stretches far back through human history, it seems unthinkable that researchers have only been studying it in detail for some 20 years.
In 2002, British-born allergy researcher Thomas Platts-Mills had his attention drawn to allergic responses in cancer patients being treated with the cancer drug cetuximab.
While he'd come across individuals who'd claimed to experience an allergic reaction to certain meats and meat products, a link between the two was the furthest thing from his mind at the time.
The years passed, with severe cases of cetuximab reactions being recorded around the US.
Finally in 2008, Platts-Mills identified the root cause of the problem – an IgE antibody response to a carbohydrate called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose. Or alpha-gal for short.
Alpha-gal is a sugar found in a wide variety of animals; primates like us happen to be an exception. Somehow, the sugar was being transferred from transgenic mice that were used to make the chemotherapy treatment.
Allergies are usually caused by the body responding to a protein it doesn't recognize. Coming across a carbohydrate that can trigger an allergic response was highly unusual.
With that mystery solved, however, there still remained the question of how patients developed the sensitivity in the first place.
There were a few clues. One was the pattern of cases, which overlapped suspiciously well with those of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a disease borne by the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum).
Lone star tick.
A second was a chance meeting with a hunter who presented with severe allergic reactions after eating beef. Already suspicious, Platts-Mills asked the man about tick bites. Sure enough, he'd had more than his fair share.
What ultimately convinced the researcher, however, was his own personal experience with the disease. Half-heartedly seeking to test his suspicions, Platts-Mills went on a hike in the mountains near his home, seeing if he couldn't pick up a few ticks of his own. Later that year, a meal of lamb chops resulted in an all-too-familiar allergic reaction.
Today, scientists are confident it's the alpha-gal stuck on proteins in tick saliva that sensitizes people to the carbohydrate found in meats such as lamb and beef. Since cooking doesn't break it apart, our bodies overreact to it as it finds its way into our system.
As for the farmer whose case was described recently, he finally found doctors who recognized the condition for what it was. Seven years after the symptoms first appeared, a friend told him about AGS. With ticks a common hazard of his job, the patient made the connection pretty quickly.
With an EpiPen in his pocket, and red meats off the menu, the patient has been relatively reaction-free for eight years now.
It's a happy ending we can all learn something from. AGS is still a relatively novel disease as far as research goes, meaning we have a lot to learn about its prevalence and its interactions with other illnesses and treatments, such as potential reactions to medications and their ingredients.
If you've got an inkling something doesn't feel quite right after a burger, bring it up with your doctor. It's not worth eight years of sweating it out.
The case description was published in BMJ Case Reports.
I hope I never get an allergy to bacon. LOL
Follow the ribeye.
I’m sure there’s a whole sub-genre of vegan sci-fi fan fiction that revolves around weaponizing this tick disease and unleashing it on the meat eaters.
Sounds like a delightful life. Sigh.
And here I thought this was going to be a piece paid for by PETA.
I’d still kill out of spite...
On the plus side, those that suffer from this allergy probably do not have to worry about their cholesterol or weight related problems.
Just carbs........................
At times I think there is something to a meat allergy in my case.
Some meats tend make feel headachy. Doesn’t seem to matter where or how prepared.
Ever been bitten by one of those ticks?.....................
I figured this out by it coinciding with ribeye night. Took weeks to make the connection and I only did so after searching the web and finding the alpha-gal allergy. It was the only thing I found with a greatly delayed reaction time. Normally one has an allergic reaction to food within minutes. I was waking up at 2am with hives after having eaten at 8/9pm.
We can’t afford ribeye night anymore but every once in a while, ground beef, spare ribs or any cut of a heritage breed pig will do it. In fact the worst reaction I ever had was a ham made from a locally raised heritage breed pig.
Most recently was a smoked sausage and the next day, I read the package a little more thoroughly. Heritage breed. Mostly for me, I just wake up with hives at 2am or so, take a benadryl and in 20-30 minutes, I’m good. I was feeling a little funky on the smoked sausage so I took the benadryl but also pulled out the epipen and kept it at the ready.
2-3 months before those first reactions, I had gone to the mo-in-laws piece of land to do some cleanup and got a bunch of tick bites. Lone Star ticks is what does it for me so between them and the chiggers, I stay out of the woods during their season.
If we eat at 6-7pm and I stay up til 10-11pm, I can take a benadryl right before bed and be fine that night but if I got to bed at 8pm, it wears off by the time the reaction hits.
I mostly eat chicken and lean beef pressure cooked in the instant pot. That and I’ve got a smoker and do ribs but I only eat a few. If I don’t get bit by another Lone Star for a few years, the allergy seems to fade.
I’ve got five and soon to be more meat goats. Got them for two reasons. One, they’re very lean and two, not enough room for cattle.
Now the left has their bio-weapon to force people to stop eating meat.
Maybe that's why folks with a sweet tooth don't engage in cannibalism.
You can eat all the monkeys and apes you want though...............
Both my brother and my daughter have gone through this; in my brother’s case it was twice. The first time it gradually went away; then he got another tick bite (he’s a Realtor and says he was probably bitten walking property), so he’s going through it again.
Daughter’s allergy has gotten milder with time. She can now take antihistamine before eating beef and tolerate it.
I had read the post as including the primates, so I would think that their meat would not be sweet enough either. Better stick with pork and goat. Although I had some possibly halal beef and lamb mixture for lunch today.
Well... there’s pasta, candy, pancakes, mayonnaise, cake, pie... you get the point. :)
Makes me wonder if Bill Gates is involved in this “science”?
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