Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for them

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      After reading the article I hope they seek out and bite Donald Trump. Wouldn’t that be hilarious if this caused him a meat allergy?

    • tartarin@reddthat.com
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      Not only the environment, the overall Americans health too. Each year, 700 000 Americans are dying from heart diseases.

    • ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml
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      Yeah, Lyme Disease can potentially cause that. It’s weird they’re saying “meat allergy” and not lyme disease, but lyme is pretty bad and can cause lifelong complications (post-treatment lyme disease syndrome)

      Edit: guess I’m wrong

      • fishpen0@lemmy.world
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        The lone star tick actually usually does not carry Lyme, you are thinking of deer ticks. This is an entirely different condition that is caused by an allergic reaction to the lone star ticks saliva which your body confuses with carbohydrates found in most mammalian meats leading to a long term meat allergy.

        • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          Maybe its Mother Nature way of making us stop consuming beef and all become vegan? I mean nature finds a way. The cattle industry is a huge contributor to climate change, so maybe this is a good thing.

          Of course if this was to affect everyone, you see how quickly the government would fund a cure. Interesting novel idea…going give that a think.

          • ToastedRavioli@midwest.social
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            5 days ago

            It wouldnt be pushing people to veganism, considering there are plenty of animal products you could consume even if youre allergic to meat.

            Also there are a lot more types of meat than beef. I eat meat often and hardly ever eat any beef

            • BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world
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              Not, entirely correct. Alpha-gal syndrome is not a meat allergy. Gelatin, Glycerin and Magnesium stearate all contain high levels of it and are found in products as diverse as makeup, candy, shampoo, vape juice, energy drinks and toothpaste. High levels of alpha-gal are found in Milk and Milk products. All mammalian meat, organ meat, lipids and derived products. You check labels for the rest of your life if you have this and you’ll probably still come into contact with it out in the wild. You get Fish, Eggs and poultry. That’s only guaranteed if you buy the meat on its own, free from seasoning and cross-contamination. You don’t eat in a restaurant anymore, unless it’s sushi.

              • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                My wife has had to follow a low FODMAP and gluten free diet for the last 6ish years. It’s miserable and I wouldn’t wish such a vast allergy as this on anyone. I know there are plenty of haughty taughty vegans in this thread making jest, but these kinds of allergies fucking suck and I guarantee vegans consume shit that has these compounds without even realizing, since like you said, it exists in far more than just basic meat-based foods.

            • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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              Oh I think that a solid theory. Maybe why we are busy killing ourselves off. Maybe Gaia knows us humans are the major problem with all the shit going on and wired us to kill ourselves off.

            • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              Add in birdflu and man we could see a new era of man kind all being vegetarian. Btw I was working on a novel that contains birdflu and found a way to incorporate this into it.

      • skoberlink@lemmy.world
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        They don’t refer to it as Lyme because it’s a different issue. It just happens to also be spread by ticks. Lyme disease and Alpha-gal Syndrome are different things but are sometimes comorbities since both are commonly spread by ticks.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        5 days ago

        lyme is caused by deer ticks and its a bacterial spirochetes, theres actually a whole cult against chronic lyme which is a pseudoscientific belief thats incurable.

    • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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      Honestly, I feel like this is a big fuck you from mother nature, telling us that our industrial farming practices, that are contributing so heavily to climate change, are now worth fuck all. And I am very much not a vegan.

      • not_amm@lemmy.ml
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        5 days ago

        Bruh, I see more meat-eaters following and actively commenting on vegan pages and forums than vegans being annoying lol

        • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Can confirm IRL, too. I’m not vegan, but vegetarian. Cannot tell you how many rather stupid conversations I’ve had (initiated by omnivores that discover I’m vegetarian, which I don’t exactly advertise, but obviously there are times it comes up if you are sharing a meal at work, or with friends/relatives and so on).

          That’s even with me not really having any desire to proselytize or anything. It’d be one thing if I was upping the ante in response. But there is a certain kind of omnivore that seem to be deeply triggered by the existence of veg*ns. I mean, it really really seems to bother them.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        5 days ago

        Yeah, but all ticks can do that. The “meat allergy ones” are a species that is only moving now because of climate change, which in no small part is also caused by emissions from factory farming.

  • notabot@piefed.social
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    5 days ago

    “They will hunt you, they are like a cross between a lentil and a velociraptor,”

    Well, that’s a horrifying image.

  • RedFrank24@lemmy.world
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    Funny, humanity contributing to the reduction of the climate crisis by increasing the number of ticks causing people to become allergic to meat, meaning less demand for meat, meaning less greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere as cattle becomes less profitable.

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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    Took us vegans a long time, but after hours in our labs we finally are ready to roll out our bio weapon.

  • leadore@lemmy.world
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    The syndrome is not caused by a pathogen but spurs an allergy to a sugar molecule found in mammals and an array of other things, from toothpaste to medical equipment.

    Lone star ticks are aggressive and can speedily follow a human target if they detect them. “They will hunt you, they are like a cross between a lentil and a velociraptor,” said Sharon Pitcairn Forsyth, a conservationist who lives in the Washington DC area.

    A particular horror is the prospect of brushing up against vegetation containing a massed ball of juvenile lone star ticks, know as a “tick bomb”, that can deliver thousands of tick bites. “They are so tiny you can’t see them but you have to take it seriously or you’ll never get them off you,” said Forsyth, who now carries around a lint roller to remove such clusters.

    • lemmylump@lemmy.world
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      Many years ago my dog brought in a tic bomb, and got into bed with me. I awoke to my left arm and hand covered in so many sesema seed sized tics I could not even see my skin.

      It took hours to get them off me and my dog.

      I dodged a bullet cause I didn’t get any illnesses, nor did my dog.

      I’m still freaked out though.

  • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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    Yeah we just need to proliferate wild guinea hens and other tick predators to knock their populations down. I’d rather the entire eastern US look like Kauai (random feral poultry) than have ticks take over.

  • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
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    My wife would be fucked unless this take out some preexisting allergies she has (quinoa, buckwheat, hazelnuts, peanuts, eggs and many legumes including soybeans although she doesn’t react to soy lecithin)

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      I have a soy allergy too and don’t react to lecithin. My understanding is that by the time the soy is processed into lecithin, the “thing” you’re allergic to is pretty much non-existent and that’s why you don’t react to it.

      This isn’t the case for all people who are allergic to soy. This is not medical advice.

      • HubertManne@piefed.social
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        My dog is alergic to a crazy amount of things and eats hydrolyzed food which apparently changes the proteins enough to not react to it.

      • Broadfern@lemmy.world
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        Thirding this. I develop a rash even after coming into contact with something that had soybean oil on it, but lecithin is safe (for me).

  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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    Blood-sucking ticks that trigger a bizarre allergy to meat in the people they bite are exploding in number and spreading across the US, to the extent that they could cover the entire eastern half of the country and infect millions of people, experts have warned

    “We’ve seen an explosive increase in these ticks, which is a concern. I imagine alpha-gal will soon include the entire range of the tick, which could become the entire eastern half of the US as there’s not much to stop them. It seems like an oddity now but we could end up with millions of people with an allergy to meat.”

    Alpha-gal is a confounding condition because it doesn’t cause an immediate allergic reaction, unlike a peanut allergy, with symptoms often appearing several hours after consuming meat. The syndrome is not caused by a pathogen but spurs an allergy to a sugar molecule found in mammals and an array of other things, from toothpaste to medical equipment. Researchers think the condition can wane over time but is also worsened by further tick bites.

    Dairy, another mammalian product, is also off limits. “I’ve learned what I can eat now, but I was so sad when I realized I couldn’t have pizza again, I remember crying in front of a frozen pizza in the supermarket aisle,” she said.

    Lone star ticks are aggressive and can speedily follow a human target if they detect them. “They will hunt you, they are like a cross between a lentil and a velociraptor,” said Sharon Pitcairn Forsyth, a conservationist who lives in the Washington DC area.

    A particular horror is the prospect of brushing up against vegetation containing a massed ball of juvenile lone star ticks, know as a “tick bomb”, that can deliver thousands of tick bites. “They are so tiny you can’t see them but you have to take it seriously or you’ll never get them off you,” said Forsyth, who now carries around a lint roller to remove such clusters.

    Symptoms can also be alarmingly varied – Forsyth said she rarely eats out now because of concerns of contamination in the food and even that alpha-gal could be carried to her airborne, via the steam of cooked meat.

    “Some people are scared to leave the house, it’s hard to avoid,” she said. “Many people who get it are over 50, so the first symptom some of them have is a heart attack.”

    The spread of alpha-gal comes amid a barrage of disease threats from different ticks that are fanning out across a rapidly warming US. Powassan virus, which can kill people via an inflammation of the brain, is still rare but is growing, as is Babesia, a parasite that causes severe illnesses. Lyme disease, long a feature of the US north-east, is also burgeoning.

    “There’s a tremendous urgency to confront this with new therapies but the problem is we are going backwards in terms of funding and support in the US. There have been cuts to the CDC and NIH (National Institutes of Health) which means there is decreasing support. It’s a major concern.”

    • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
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      Where can you end up, after getting bit by a tick?

      i remember crying in front of a frozen pizza in the supermarket aisle

      Ticks are evil