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First comes the unscratchable itching, and the angry blossoming of hives. Then stomach cramping, and—for the unluckiest few—difficulty breathing, passing out, and even death. In the last decade and a half, thousands of previously protein-loving Americans have developed a dangerous allergy to meat. And they all have one thing in common: the lone star tick.
Red meat, you might be surprised to know, isn't totally sugar-free. It contains a few protein-linked saccharides, including one called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal, for short. More and more people are learning this the hard way, when they suddenly develop a life-threatening allergy to that pesky sugar molecule after a tick bite.
Yep, one bite from the lone star tick—which gets its name from the Texas-shaped splash of white on its back—is enough to reprogram your immune system to forever reject even the smallest nibble of perfectly crisped bacon. For years, physicians and researchers only reported the allergy in places the lone star tick calls home, namely the southeastern United States. But recently it's started to spread. The newest hot spots? Duluth, Minnesota, Hanover, New Hampshire, and the eastern tip of Long Island, where at least 100 cases have been reported in the last year. Scientists are racing to trace its spread, to understand if the lone star tick is expanding into new territories, or if other species of ticks are now causing the allergy.
The vegans did it?
(Score: 4, Funny) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 19 2017, @08:53PM
I can just see it now...
Meat-packer corporate scientist A: "How's that work going on that 'special' project?"
Meat-packer corporate scientist B: "Great. We've isolated a kind of infection that can result in meat allergies, for some animals in tests. But it should be easy to engineer this to create an opposing effect, resulting in lifelong meat dependency. If they don't eat beef every 24 hours, they'll die. Record profits for us, and those vegans won't know what got 'em!"
Scientist A: "What's the delivery vector?"
Scientist B: "Lone Star Ticks! A special gift from cattle country. Isn't that great?"
Scientist A & B: "Mwah ha ha ha!!"
Scientist B: "Oh, wait. This container with the infected ticks is open... and empty?! Oops...."