Contagious Meat Allergies

The lone star tick. Photo by Katja Schulz

The bite from a lone star tick may give humans an allergy to meat. It seems that their saliva causes antibodies for meat to rise after a bite, releasing histamines when meat is consumed, giving people hives, making them throw up, and even throwing them into anaphylactic shock. Essentially, what happens to me when I eat peanuts, which I avoid like the plague. So the effect here is that some people become vegetarian.

A bite from the lone star tick, so-called for the white spot on its back, looks innocent enough. But researchers say saliva that sneaks into the wound might trigger a reaction to meat agonizing enough to convert lifelong carnivores into wary vegetarians.

“People will eat beef and then anywhere from three to six hours later start having a reaction; anything from hives to full-blown anaphylactic shock,” said Dr. Scott Commins, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Most people want to avoid having the reaction, so they try to stay away from the food that triggers it.” (ABC News)

Weird. I honestly don’t even read science fiction anymore. The news is enough.

Posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2012 in food, Science.

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4 Comments »

cernoblog

2012-11-23 09:25:27

RT @indica: new blog – Contagious Meat Allergies: tick bites that turn people vegetarian http://t.co/tmw1vkaE

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IEatPeopleForLunch

2012-12-06 00:42:34

This is not just an insect.. this is actually a weapon used by the reptilian race amongst us.

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shammi

2012-12-06 09:56:18

Really? I thought everything was connected to the imminent second advent of Ravana ….

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terisa

2012-12-18 15:59:12

Dear Webmaster,

I found your site ( http://indi.ca/ ) and I wondered if you would be interested in publishing a guest blog written by me. I have a number of articles on Canadian travel topics which mention my client.

I have been working in online marketing for a number of years and I could help promote the article and your site on all the main social media channels.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Terisa Able

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email indi AT indi.ca.

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