‘Explosive increase’ of ticks that cause meat allergy in US due to climate crisis
‘Explosive increase’ of ticks that cause meat allergy in US due to climate crisis
Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for them
Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for them
Meat production is a major contributor to climate change. This is almost as if nature is acting in self defense.
Every time I go hiking with my dog I pull one of these little bastards off his fur. I cover him in permethrin, as well as every inch of my clothing, shoes and hat, so I'm not SUPER stressed about it, but it's still annoying. A couple days ago I found one in his tail floof (he's a golden so it's a giant poof.) The tick was near dead already by the time I got it untangled from his fur thanks to the permethrin though. Usually I spot the ticks on him either because they're on his head (where they're easy to spot immediately), or because they got tangled in his fur and couldn't jump off. I've never once seen one bite him thankfully.
It's wild to me because I have only seen other kinds of ticks twice so far this season, but otherwise it's all lone star ticks, which are not supposed to be the most common where I am. They're definitely more prominent this year though. Of all the tick diseases, alpha-gal terrifies me the most, so I'm not thrilled by this increase in lone stars.
This year has been insane. I have pulled a dozen off my wife, myself and my child, and probably another dozen off my dog. Luckily none latched on so far.
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.
And so their task force begins…
One time I saw a lone star tick crawl into the headphone jack of my phone.
I tried everything I could think of to get it out, to no avail. Then I googled two things:
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What eats ticks?
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Guinea hen mating sounds
After fifteen seconds of guinea hen sounds, I watched the tick crawl out of my phone... and immediately disappear.
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“They will hunt you, they are like a cross between a lentil and a velociraptor,”
Well, that's a horrifying image.
Our vegan super soldiers are unaffected.
Gaia hits back.
I am hoping to take a vaccine that can kill them dead, or least take care of their parasites. As a guy who likes steaks, hot dogs, and juicy burgers, these ticks are abominations.
Oh, and the Wall of Flesh that prevents screwflys from spreading through the neck of Panama has started to fail. You and your pets will likely have your flesh being eaten.
What a wonderful time to live on the American continent. 🤕
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.
😱
The cows are delighted.
You can get concentrated permetherin, mix with water and apply with spray bottle to cotton clothes/socks. It bonds to the fiber and keeps the ticks off. Lasts several washes, longer if you don't dry clothes with heat.
Much cheaper to buy the concentrate instead of the premix.
Spray outside, allow clothes to dry outside. Stuff is pretty much harmless to humans. When still wet or in concentrate, it is absolutely deadly to cats. After it has bonded to your clothes, it won't hurt the cats. Doesn't work if you apply it to your skin, the skin oils or something deactivate it.
Haven't had a tick in years since I started using it.
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.”
Payback for turning the frogs gay
Unusually Aggressive Lone Star Tick was my user name in the 2000s!
As a vegan, I endorse those ticks!
I can't, nature got so enough of burgers, that it invented self injecting vacciness for their health issues!
That's like nuking Texas.
OMG lol at the description of lentil X Velociraptor!
Does this count for human meat as well
Life is truly marvelous
Would a meat allergy cause me to be allergic to myself? /s
