OHIO \u2014\u00a0Many Ohioans know a bite from a deer tick can cause Lyme disease, but there\u2019s another kind of tick bite that\u2019s causing a surprising allergy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs lone star ticks expand their range further and further north, red meat allergy is moving right along with it,\u201d said Afsoon Sabet, an entomologist with The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.<\/p>\n
Sabet said bites from the lone star tick can cause an allergy known as alpha-gal syndrome. It\u2019s not a disease like a bacteria or a virus.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a sensitivity to the alpha-gal molecule found in most red-blooded animals like cows, pigs, deer and rabbits, as well as their byproducts like milk and cheese.<\/p>\n
The syndrome is characterized by a delayed allergic response.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour to six hours approximately after consuming a product that has alpha-gal, the alpha-gal molecule in it, you may develop some allergic response,\u201d Sabet said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time that we got home, I was head to toe hives, and I\u2019m sitting in the bathtub with my wife dumping ice over top of me,\u201d said Kevin Chase, who developed alpha-gal syndrome after a tick bite.<\/p>\n
He said he had a reaction several hours after he said he overdid it at a meat buffet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were asking questions like, \u2018Did we change our laundry detergent? What other thing I could possibly be allergic to?\u2019 Without even thinking it could possibly be related to this tick bite, you know, a couple weeks ago,\u201d Chase said.<\/p>\n
Symptoms can vary from gastrointestinal issues to trouble breathing or anaphylactic shock.<\/p>\n
Sabet said it\u2019s important to see your doctor and get tested if you suspect you have it.<\/p>\n
Experts believe the rise in lone star ticks is due in part to the white-tailed deer expansion.<\/p>\n
The tick is easy to identify as the females have a big white dot in the middle of their backs. The males have smaller white dots.<\/p>\n
People with alpha-gal syndrome may also have to give up gelatin, which is a meat byproduct. It\u2019s found in numerous candies like gummies, marshmallow and fruit snacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OHIO \u2014\u00a0Many Ohioans know a bite from a deer tick can cause Lyme disease, but there\u2019s another kind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2912,2910,32788,103,2914,61,60,214583,43,2913,214582,38],"class_list":["post-501660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-app-health","tag-app-top-stories","tag-ctv","tag-health","tag-health-and-medicine","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kimberly-perez","tag-news","tag-ohio","tag-ohio-what-you-need-to-know","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}