A recent conversation with a friend reminded me that I’ve been meaning to link to this story from Oliver Milman at The Guardian:

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. […]

The ticks are known to be unusually aggressive and can provoke an allergy in bitten people whereby they cannot eat red meat without enduring a severe reaction, such as breaking out in hives and even the risk of heart attacks. The condition, known as alpha-gal syndrome, has proliferated from just a few dozen known cases in 2009 to as many as 450,000 now.

I first learned of alpha-gal syndrome in 2017 from a Wired article (archive), lamenting piteously to a few friends: Fuuuuuuuck mmmmeeeee…

An allergy to red meat would eliminate a significant portion of my (admittedly unhealthy) diet, from the obvious (burgers, steaks, sausage, ribs) to the less apparent (pork fried rice, lamb samosas, kao ga prow, dumplings). Even tacos become verboten. Tacos!

It’s a culinary death sentence!

So how far can alpha-gal spread? Cases have been found in Europe and Australia, although in low numbers, while in the US it’s assumed lone star ticks won’t be able to shift west of the Rocky mountains.

Whew. One more reason to live in California.

But other tick species might also be able to spread alpha-gal syndrome – a recent scientific paper found the western black legged tick and the black legged tick, also called the deer tick, could also cause the condition.

Shit.

Obviously I’m being flip here—alpha-gal syndrome is a serious allergic reaction which can lead to Anaphylaxis, a potentially fatal reaction that restricts breathing. Alpha-gal isn’t just found in “red meat,” but also in other mammal-derived food and non-food products: milk, lard, and bouillon, sure; but also in personal care and household products, and even in some medications and vaccines.

Beyond anaphylaxis, other symptoms include itchy skin, swelling, hives, wheezing, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, heart palpitations, and low blood pressure.

There’s no cure, and treatment requires a strict elimination diet.

So once more, with feeling:

Shit.