The risk of allergies to meat may be after the tick bite is higher than belief

The tick threat is worse than we thought. A pair of new studies this month indicates that there are more ticks in the United States that can cause an unusual form of allergy to red meat.

Scientists of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the research at the end of last week in the magazine emerging for infectious diseases. Details of the studies of red meat allergy, which are officially known as alpha-Gall syndrome, associated with bites of two types of ticks that are not usually associated with it-also cause Lyme disease. These cases seem rare, but indicate that more people are at risk of syndrome, which is currently assumed.

Alpha Gal is sugar found in the muscles of most mammals, although it is not important human. We can usually tolerate alpha Gal in the meat that we eat without a problem. but For reasons we are still trying to understandThe tick bite can sometimes cause our bodies an overly active immune response to alpha, which mainly makes us sensitivity from red meat to dairy. Alpha Gal syndrome is the only type of classic food allergy that involves sugar (Alpha Gal) instead of protein. Unlike other food allergies, symptoms may take hours, not minutes, to appear after exposure.

In the United States, Alpha-Gal cases are almost always linked to the top of the only star mark (Amblyomma Americanum), Which is mostly found throughout Eastern half From the country. But there are different types of ticks known to cause it in other parts of the world, and doctors in the United States have faced the cross -condition in places where the only star should reside.

In this last research, scientists have discovered at least two, but perhaps more than alpha-Gal cases that are not commensurate with the usual description.

in One studyThe researchers documented a woman in Washington, who developed Alpha Gal in 2017, after an unknown type of tick. As a result, it turned into a vegetarian diet. Three years later, I got a second mark bite. Although she avoided any symptoms due to her diet, blood tests showed a significant increase in antibodies to Alpha Gal. This time, it was able to collect the test mark, which was determined as Ixodes PacificusOr western ticks with black legs. Two years later, I got another bite of I. Pacific Ocean Signs and passed again in a height of alpha -Gal antibodies. More importantly, the woman also reported any modern travel date to places where Lone Star is found.

in The second studyThe researchers follow the case of Alpha Gal in the state of Main Ixodes SCAPULARIS Mark, or mark of deer. Although Lone Star signs were rarely found in Maine, it is not believed to have established a local group in the region, according to researchers. Nevertheless, they managed to find 23 confirmed cases of the allergy to the red meat that was reported to the country dating back to 2014. While some people could arrest these cases while traveling in the settlement areas to the Lone Star brand, many people have not reported such travel.

“The results may reflect a limited role in species other than A. Americanum In the development of (Alpha Gaal syndrome) in the United States, which is more supported by reviewing the geographical distribution of suspected cases and a set of A. Amblyomma The authors wrote in one paper.

However, most cases of red meat allergy are still being reported in the United States in places where Lone Star is found. Laboratory experiments also supported the idea that these ticks are likely to cause allergies from other types in the United States, but both of them Ixodes The ticks are widely distributed through regions of the United States and are already known to publish bad diseases such as Lyme for people.

Although alpha Gal cases caused Ixodes The ticks may be more rare than the classic version, the total syndrome infection climbs. A study in 2023 from the Center for Disease Control and others estimated Up to 450,000 Americans have developed alpha syndrome since 2010, with increased rates during that time period as well. So if more ticks, along with the only star, can cause this case, people and doctors are in parts of the country where they are not found at least at least they should be aware of this possibility, the researchers say.