It sounds like something PETA would advocate for. Bites from a certain type of tick could cause people to become allergic to red meat.
Lone star ticks have spread from the Southwest to the East Coast of the United States, and more and more people have reported allergic reaction to red meat.
"Classically three to six hours after eating red meat [a person with the allergy] can get with hives, swelling and problems breathing," said Dr. Robert Valet, an assistant professor of allergy and immunology at Vanderbilt University. "They may even have a full anaphylactic reaction in which their airways close."
However, people are unaware of this growing problem since they aren't likely to think they're allergic to something they've been eating for their entire lives.
This allergic reaction occurs because of a sugar called alpha-gal. This sugar is also found in red meat, but not in people. Normally, alpha-gal doesn't affect humans, but a tick bite can cause alpha-gal to be transferred to the bloodstream causing the body to produce antibodies to fight the sugar. Then when the person tries to eat red meat, the antibodies attack the alpha-gal present in the meat, causing an allergic reaction.
Mild allergic reactions can be treated with antihistamines, but severe cases of allergic reactions require epinephrine.
Most food allergic reactions occur immediately, but they can occur up to eight hours after someone has consumed meat.
It is unclear whether this meat allergy is permanent; some people have shown signs of improvement while others have not.
"Anecdotally, there are some patients in whom it does resolve," Valet said. "The most important thing you can do if you develop the allergy, along with avoiding red meat, is to avoid more tick bites since the number of antibodies will rise if there are more tick bites."
Ticks can also cause other symptoms such as fatigue, fever and rash. These symptoms can appear within 30 days of a bite and the bites are typically treated with oral antibiotics.
People can avoid tick bites by staying away from brush areas and by wearing clothing that will prevent ticks from landing on their skin.
