The Vegan conspiracy is complete. There is now a tick aptly named the “Lone Star tick” that is leaving people with a red meat allergy. This was news to me despite my following the tick population closely as an avid hiker.
These ticks create an alpha-gal meat allergy and the allergy was only identified roughly ten years ago. There are now believed to be 5000 cases.
I have had alpha-gal for awhile. Diagnosed about a year ago just so I could get epi-pens and have proof for work since I was bitten at work (not that it even mattered in the end because now they are afraid for me to work here). It is certainly not just meat that I am allergic to, but the specific sugar found in mammals, aside from humans and old world primates. So, I cannot have or use any mammal or derivatives, including gelatin, magnesium stearate, gel capsules, glycerin, lanolin, lactose, milk…okay, so any dairy, but especially whey, white sugar, vitamin D3 (unless in lichen form, so enriched items can cause problems), of course mammal meats and additives as “natural flavoring,” and carageenan. Why carageenan, since it comes from a seaweed? Well, part of its molecular structure is similar to the alpha-gal carbohydrate. And guess what carageenan is added into? Many things, but especially dairy-free items. So, I cant have dairy, and need dairy-free, but a lot of dairy-free items have carageenan. Whew! Fun, right? Oh, and lets not forget that airborne particles affect me within minutes! Very dangerously, actually. It causes blood pressure drops and histamine reactions that aren’t typical of a normal allergy. It affects my balance, coordination, processing, and speech. I have had to change all hygiene products to vegan and have had to even change my dog’s food to only fish or fowl because otherwise I will have allergic reactions to his fur/dander. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. And I’ve only summed things up.
David Benson owes me five citations after five weeks, one from the OED, and the source of a quotation – there is something wrong with the sentence structure of “just telling the truth.”?
David Benson owes me five citations after five weeks, one from the OED, and the source of a quotation – I am not the one who is failing to back up what he says, that would be YOU, YOU, YOU!!!
Some people have no sense of humor.
David Benson owes me five citations after five weeks, one from the OED, and the source of a quotation – Some people have no sense of honor.
That certainly applies to Paul C Schulte who continues to just Make Stuff Up.
David Benson owes me five citations after five weeks, one from the OED, and the source of a quotation – your title speaks to your inability to back up what you say. And you have the temerity to claim I am Making Stuff Up. Projecting a Lot, aren’t we?
Gobbledygook.
David Benson owes me five citations after five weeks, one from the OED, and the source of a quotation – just speaking the truth.
I can assure you the Alpha-Gal allergy caused by the bite of the Lone Star Tick is 100% real. I am a victim and haven’t been able to eat any mammal meat for almost 4-years.
As a former “meat” lover, I can’t begin to tell you how bad it sucks! No steak, no burgers, no bacon, no sausage, no ribs… basically no mammal meat of any kind. On the plus side… I’ve discovered 10,493 different ways to cook chicken, turkey, and seafood. 52-years of ingesting meat… now 4-years with none!
If you have type A or AB blood and are bitten, something in the saliva of the Lone Star Tick causes your body to produce antibodies to a complex sugar (Alpha-Gal) found only in mammal meat. Researchers have yet to discover the compound that causes the reaction.
As your body starts to digest the meat and break down the complex Alpha-Gal sugar, the antibodies kick in and make for a very unpleasant experience for about 6-8 hours. This happens about 3-4 hours AFTER you ingest the meat.
I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, but at least I like chicken!
“Alpha-gal allergy has commonly been referred to as “the red meat” allergy, but doctors at the Vanderbilt Asthma, Sinus and Allergy Program (ASAP) helped uncover that not only red meat, but some medications, can contain alpha-gal.”
https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2018/04/12/alpha-gal-found-to-be-both-a-medication-and-red-meat-allergy/
Have you had any issues with meds, USN420?
Believe it or not… some new cancer medications are what led to the discovery of the allergy. When the new drugs went to clinical trials some patients were experiencing allergic reactions while others were not…
Further investigation showed that the only people having the allergic reactions were from geographic area where the Lone Star Tick is indigenous and had been bitten by that specific species of tick.
But no, I’ve had not problems with medication.
Thanks for the additional information, USN420. I appreciate it.
USN420 – that would kill me. Although I have been getting used to turkey burgers from time to time.
hnnn maybe that’s why I stopped eating meat.
Anthrax island. A small island off the coast of Long Island New York where the government was rumored to habe done research in biological warfare.
Yet another reason along with poison ivy, mosquitos and snakes to stay out of the woods.
As someone who had to take tick shots every year, can I just say, “Welcome, to tick country.” 🙂 BTW, tick shots hurt, or did.
OK Paul. I have spent my entire life in the South – Florida and Texas. I have never heard of tick shots. Is that really a thing?
FFS – I grew up in Montana and every year we had to get a tick shot. They may be included in something else now. In Montana, you get Rocky Mountian Spotted Fever from the ticks. I actually identified it on a medical show one time just from the symptoms. 🙂
A doctor of my acquaintance was a primary care physician in the Shenandoah Valley for 37 years. IIRC, he told me he’d seen one case of illness from a tick bite in his career.
Paul,
I grew up in Minnesota and I’ve never heard of a tick shot. Maybe it’s because we were taught to “groom” them off before they took root. 😉
OLLY
On May 19, 1924, Spencer put a large dose of mashed wood ticks, from lot 2351B, and some weak carbolic acid into his arm by injection. This vaccine worked, and for some years after it was used by people in that region to convert the illness from one with high fatality rate (albeit low incidence) to one that could be either prevented entirely (for many of them) or modified to a non-deadly form (for the rest).[18] Today there is no commercially available vaccine for RMSF[13] because, unlike in the 1920s when Spencer and colleagues developed one, antibiotics are now available to treat the disease, so prevention by vaccination is no longer the sole defense against likely death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_spotted_fever
I believe you may have me by a generation or so. I’m of the 1960’s variety.
OLLY – I am a war baby.
I didn’t know about tick shots. I grew up in the South, where my Mom had to comb my hair like a monkey every single day I came in from the woods or just stepping outside. It was common at school for some kid to tell their teacher they had a tick, hold their fingers on it, and then do that crooked neck walk to the nurse to have it removed.
What are the shots for?
Karen S – see my response to OLLY
Isn’t it obvious?
This affliction is just too convenient, and perfectly tracks what militant vegans want to impose upon the world society — that we stop eating meat.
I posit that this allergy inducing tick has been genetically modified by partisan vegan bio-warfare scientists to do exactly that, transform all previously omnivorous people to abhor eating meat and dairy.
“I now feel great not eating meat anymore. I think everyone should reject meat from their diet too.” Says one victim of the metamorphoses.
When enough people are converted, then the laws will come, “to protect the children” from red meat.
They are working on a new tick that also makes people sick when they eat poultry and fish; when those are released into the environment, the vegan revolution will be complete.
Viva la revolución!
We need a tick that makes people allergic to racism and delusions of superiority.
Well, you know, Chris, we often don’t see ourselves as others do.
ticks are parasites, like certain nonproductive social groups.
Poultry and fish are still okay to eat.
That’s bad. These pests spread. Lyme disease is also a significant health hazard, as is constantly dousing yourself in pesticide.
I recall reading years ago about the discovery that ticks also spread disease in the time of dinosaurs. And they survived the meteorite during the Late Cretaceous. Pity.
They will survive being submerged in salt water for 30 days, too.
This article from Grist is excellent on this subject:
https://grist.org/article/lone-star-ticks-are-a-carnivores-nightmare-and-theyre-just-waking-up/
There are about 35,000 new cases of Lyme disease per year. The bulk are in the BosWash corridor and most of the rest in a swatch of territory in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It’s rare in the rest of the country.
Good find, Jonathan Turley.
“May the Lone Star Tick be with you.”
Tick….Talk….
Wally, that would be, “TicToc”, as a clocks passing of time. Just saying…
I think he has a nice play on words.
This ticks me off.
May the tick’s range spread rapidly and widely.
It is nothing short of mental illness for Benson to desire others get this physical illness.
What’s next Benson, this tick attacking your political opponents?
http://theplantguide.net/2018/05/12/new-species-of-ticks-found-in-the-us-can-kill-you-in-48-hours/
David Benson,
Why would you hope for that?
Because the hateful people on the Left want everyone to be like them. It affirms their hateful sickness.
FFS, get a grip. What a bunch of nonsense.
Don’t get them going, before long they will be saying that Hillary or Obama put them there on purpose.
Beautiful.