How a Tick Bite Made Me Allergic to Meat

http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/09-how-a-tick-bite-made-me-allergic-to-meat

by robg • 14 years ago

79 42 14 years ago

Shenglong2• 14 years ago

This might be an entirely irrational fear, but throughout this entire article, I kept thinking of vegetarian/vegan extremists (and because I need to clarify, not all vegetarians are extremists, obviously). "What if," I thought, "these extremists started spreading lone star ticks around the world to further their ideals?" Historically, people have done some pretty crazy things for what they believe is right; I just hope intentionally spreading ailments won't be added to this list.

In any case, here's a video/article I saw two months ago, that summarizes this article, in case it's tl;dr: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/allergic-meat-lone-sta...

ajays• 14 years ago

Whenever there's talk of veg*anism, many people automatically think of 'extremists'. Why is that? As a vegetarian myself, I know I'm not an extremist; neither are all of my vegetarian friends. Some of them are repelled by meat, but that is no different than people being repelled by Durian for example; meat does smell offensive if you're not used to eating it.

true_religion• 14 years ago

By extremists.... He's thinking of vegans out of morality--the type of people who say meat is murder.

If meat is murder, making people allergic to the fruits of their murder is a lesser crime.

Shenglong2• 14 years ago

I said vegetarian extremists - not vegetarians. Not all vegetarians are extremists, but there definitely are some. Please read what I actually write before responding negatively.

sigkill2• 14 years ago

Being a vegetarian, now I exactly understand how Muslims might be feeling.

Dammit, there are countries in the East where people are primarily vegetarian and no one's an extremist.

robg• 14 years ago

Seriously, that was your thought?

I was thinking "Geez, I wonder if this is why vegetarianism developed?".

sigkill2• 14 years ago

I'm not so sure. I'm more inclined to believe that agriculture was probably the reason vegetarianism. I'd rather eat vegetables predictably than wonder if I'm going to be able to hunt my next meal.

pat2man• 14 years ago

This isn't a meat allergy, its a mammal meat allergy. Doesn't really make you stop eating meat since you can still eat fish, chicken, etc.

finnw• 14 years ago

And lobsters. And mussels. And locusts, squid, termites, beetles, worms, spiders... no shortage of nutritious meat sources, many of which taste better than the average mammal, just that we "westerners" aren't accustomed to eating them.

Edit: should probably include this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail#Snails_in_cuisine

ToastOpt• 14 years ago

Midwesterners consider those vegetables. Not kidding. Ask for a "vegetarian option" and they might hand you chicken.

dhughes• 14 years ago

I have to admit I thought the same thing.

As to why anyone would think of this as others have asked in other comments below? You don't see many pro-meat groups (are there any?) fire bombing vegetable stands but PETA, ALF and other extremist groups who are vegetarian due to their views on animals do use violence; verbal or physical to intimidate people.

Evbn• 14 years ago

Pro-meat groups, known as the agribusiness, grocery, and foodservice industries, torture and kill animals and flaunt the carcasses to the public. So there is that.

More seriously, what would the dominant normative side of an issue need to even consider terrorism, the status quo is already in their favor.

charlieflowers• 14 years ago

I am more concerned than ever to learn the best ways to protect myself from tick bites. I was already concerned because of the life-changing impact of lyme disease.

I am currently travelling the U.S. in an RV, and I do a lot of hiking/biking/camping in remote areas. I'm sure a lot of other HN readers do as well.

What are some of the best proven ways to keep ticks off of yourself?

dpeck• 14 years ago

Something with lots of DEET is the most proven way, though there are a lot of possible issues with that, and if you're going off trail a lot you probably can't beat the "deep woods" brands that are something like 25%.

An alternative is Avon Skin So Soft. Theres a good bet you'll hate the smell, and it has shown to be less effective than DEET but seems to be regarded as completely safe. But, to me I feel like I've always had better results for repelling gnats/flys using it over DEET based sprays.

timeuser• 14 years ago

Permethrin treated clothing is the best deterrent I've used. Deet doesn't do much in my experience but if ticks get on pants treated with permethrin they get off as quick as they can. I've use this spray to treat my clothing before going out in the woods anymore: http://www.rei.com/product/768970/sawyer-permethrin-pump-spr...

rosser• 14 years ago

One thing to be very, very careful of with permethrin-treated clothing is that it's very water-soluble, and extremely toxic to fish. If you go swimming while wearing permethrin-treated clothing, you will leave a trail of death in your wake, and not just of the bugs you were hoping to kill...

rdl• 14 years ago

Long sleeves, pants, and blousing pants into boots. Also, hat with wide brim. (and, personally, shaving my head, but that might be excessive).

My clothing is treated with Permethrin (it's standard for military uniforms, and available for outdoor clothing as a cream or spray). You have to be a little careful with laundering (avoiding dry cleaning).

DEET (and sunscreen) for skin and near edges of clothing.

kmfrk• 14 years ago

    Having grown up in the woods, I’m so used to tick bites
    that I don’t even notice them half the time. But I
    remember this particular bite because it left an itchy
    welt behind that lasted for weeks after I’d tweezed out
    the tick itself. Long-lasting, itchy welts, I now know,
    are one of the hallmarks of an allergy-causing tick bite.

So this guy went weeks with a tick bite without seeking medical assistance?(!)

Maybe American ticks are different, but I'd always advise people to talk to their GP and get some antibiotics.

dedward• 14 years ago

It really depends on the type of tick and the area you live in.. in some places they are harmless, others they are known to carry things that absolutely need treatment...

wazoox• 14 years ago

It's the usual advice when you're living in places where you don't meet (if ever) ticks. I rarely get tick bites where I live (once or twice a year), but in 2005 during our summer vacation we had to remove 10 to 20 ticks from every member of the family, every day, for two weeks. In these areas when you ask the pharmacy what to do, they just tell you to use a special tick remover and disinfectant... people there can't live getting antibiotics all year round.

Apparently, woodlands where there are lots of deer and/or sheep grazing around are infested with ticks. There's nothing much you can do.

zzzeek• 14 years ago

wow don't show this to PETA

pavel_lishin2• 14 years ago

If it's an allergy to a sugar present in mammalian meat, how does the body not become allergic to itself?

option_greek• 14 years ago

May be because the sugar is formed after breaking down the meat during digestion.

ciupicri• 14 years ago

By the way, there are quite a few autoimmune diseases[1] where the body attacks parts of it. Some examples: psoriasis (affects the skin), celiac disease (small intestine), rheumatoid arthritis (joints), multiple scleroris (nerves), Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoimmune_disease#Classificati...

tokenadult• 14 years ago

"Helen Chappell is a museum exhibit developer and freelance writer based in Durham, North Carolina."

I checked the PubMed references kindly included in the submitted article. I think it's stretching a point beyond recognition to say that anyone has "proven" that tick bites have anything at all to do with food sensitivities. Cross-reactivity is often an intriguing theory, as many biochemicals are present in more than one organism, but this needs a lot more epidemiological work, and more in-vivo experimental work, before this speculative hypothesis can be considered an established fact. As always,

http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html

check the experiment design (there is no "experiment" here, really, but rather field observations), check the sample size (small here) and check all the other issues before taking this as fact. Further research will be needed before it is clear that anyone is actually developing meat sensitivity BECAUSE OF tick bites rather than just AFTER tick bites (or after something else that has nothing at all to do with tick bites).

ars• 14 years ago

Is this what you read? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085643/pdf/nihm...

olouv• 14 years ago

I would not call your ammonia-treated pink-slime mixed from hundred cows actual "meat". you should try some real food, even organic maybe.

chaostheory• 14 years ago

There is a bright side: factory meat farms are responsible for a lot of pollution. I would think any reduction in demand for cheaply produced meat would have environmental benefits.

How a Tick Bite Made Me Allergic to Meat

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