How a tick bite can suddenly make you allergic to red meat
Ticks are horrendous little creatures. If you’ve ever found one on your dog, or been unlucky enough to find one on yourself, you’ll know they’re a pretty horrifying little pest.
They bury their heads the skin to draw blood and their fat little bodies grow bulbous as they feed. Removing one yourself can be dangerous as you risk the head being left behind, potentially causing a nasty infection.
Besides that, they’re also famous Lyme disease carriers. A bullseye-like red ring around the bite site is a telltale sign that the tick was carrying the bacteria, and it might not show up until months after you were first bitten.
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According to the NHS, the rash can appear three months after being bitten, but it usually appears within one to four weeks and itself can last for a couple of months.
As for Lyme disease itself, it’s no joke. Symptoms include a high temperature, feeling hot and shivery, headaches, muscle and joint pain, and a deep sense of fatigue. It usually needs to be treated with a course of antibiotics that could run for a month.
Even then, the symptoms can last for months, and in some cases symptoms can persist over the long term. They’re described by the NHS as being similar to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.
If that wasn’t reason enough to try and avoid tick bites – keep your skin covered while you’re outdoors, tuck your trousers into your socks, use insect repellent like DEET, steer clear of long grass if you can help it, and wear light-coloured clothing so you can see any that attach to your clothes – there’s another nasty side effect that could ruin your appetite.
Some ticks can trigger Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS), with some ticks carrying the alpha-gal sugar molecule. It’s most common to ticks in the US, particularly lone star ticks, and some in Europe such as the blacklegged tick can carry it too.
If a tick transfers alpha-gal to you through its bite, it can give you an allergy to red meat and some other animal products. Your body can develop a sensitivity to alpha-gal through these bites, and its presence in red meat means you could then have an allergic reaction to it.
Reaction symptoms include hives, itching, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and difficulty breathing, while more severe reactions can result in anaphylaxis.
Anaphylaxis is a full-body allergic reaction that can trigger very quickly after exposure to an allergen, and it’s a life-threatening condition that’s typically treated with a shot of epinephrine from an Epi-Pen.
If you get bitten by a tick, it’s important to check with a health professional to ensure you haven’t been infected with Lyme disease. If you’ve picked it up in the States, central Europe, or Australia, you may want to get checked for AGS too.
Rachael Davis