One single nip can create a lifetime allergy, with no present cure.
Worrying about getting bitten by a tick that’s infected with Lyme disease can be time consuming enough. But here’s another reason to let your head spin: a tick bite could also potentially render you allergic to meat, permanently.
The discovery was made at the University of Virginia School of Medicine by by Loren Erickson, PhD, and his team. It centers around one type of tick.
The allergy can come about if you’re bitten by a Lone Star tick. Victims have found they often have to give up eating meat altogether, including beef and pork and other foods that contain meat-based ingredients, such as gravy, but no actual real meat.
Related: More Than 17% of Donated Kidneys Are Thrown Away. Here’s Why
“We don’t know what it is about the tick bite that causes the meat allergy,” said Erickson. “And, in particular, we haven’t really understood the source of immune cells that produce the antibodies that cause the allergic reactions,” he explained.
People who have developed this meat allergy from a tick bite have a distinctive form of immune cells known as B cells in great numbers, the researchers noted. These white blood cells produce antibodies that are causing the allergic reaction to meat. Scientists are presently working on experiments that will hopefully lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies for humans.
The Lone Star tick can be found in the East, Southeast, and Midwest United States and parts of Canada.
For more on this study, click here.
