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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTicks are turning victims into vegetarians
from Grist:
Ticks are turning victims into vegetarians
By Susie Cagle
Are you ready to never read blood meal the same way again?
There is now scientific confirmation of the tick-borne meat allergies we first told you about in August. From ABC News:
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.
Lone star ticks are an aggressive species, but scientists are having a hard time proving a causal relationship between the tick bites and the meat allergies. What they do know: blood levels of antibodies for alpha-gal, a sugar found in beef, lamb and pork, rise after a single bite from the lone star tick. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/news/ticks-are-turning-victims-into-vegetarians/
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Ticks are turning victims into vegetarians (Original Post)
marmar
Nov 2012
OP
PETRUS
(3,678 posts)1. Wow, crazy. nt
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)2. I've been vegetarian since '89. I still hate ticks.
Warpy
(110,913 posts)3. I generally eat red meat once a year
in the fall when the cold starts to move in. That's about the only time I ever crave it and then since I eat so little of it, I spring for the grass fed, organic stuff.
The rest of the year it's fish or poultry and generally used as a flavoring and not the main event.
That tick wouldn't do much to me, in other words.