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New report from the US Centers for Disease Control claims more than 100,000 suffer from tick-caused meat allergy and the number is rising
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- Title
- A meat allergy caused by tick spit is getting more common, CDC says
- Published
- Jul 27 2023
- Word count
- 796 words
Ticks make me cringe. They were never an issue for me growing up - don't think I even saw one before two years ago.
Last summer, we had three in our house just from our dog going out to pee in the grass, even with tick checks. The issue with ticks is that they are so small. You just can't feasibly find all of them.
I woke up to find a tick embedded in my abdomen one morning and ended up with a generic-looking rash. Took antibiotics immediately and thankfully nothing seems to have come of it.
After that, we paid someone to put a wooden fence in our yard and we had them set it into the ground so it would create a barrier. Not saying it's perfect but apparently ticks can't cross barriers very easily. So far, so good.
My theory is that our asshole neighbor who won't stop feeding bread to the deer is inadvertently bringing the ticks. The deer used to be in our yard constantly as they were waiting around for our neighbor to come outside and feed them. I know I should call on him but he's been told to stop before and won't. I still have to live next to the guy so fuck it, fence it is.
This rise in tick populations is really more of a climate change issue than anything else. The winters aren't harsh enough to bring their numbers down to where they should be. They are starting each spring with higher populations than they had before and moving to areas that were too cold for them in the past.
This is going to be a huge problem. A lot of people are going to suffer unless medicine comes up with some answers to Lime Disease, Alpha Gal syndrome, and other tick-borne illnesses.
I take it it would be illegal for you to hunt the deer? Crossbows are silent. ; )
Your concern about the deer sounds right based on this source. (in case anyone is unfamiliar) https://web.uri.edu/tickencounter/prevention/protect-your-yard/#:~:text=Reproducing%20adult%20ticks%20can%20be,or%20by%20applying%20deer%20repellents.
It would be illegal where I live since it's a pretty populated area. I don't own a crossbow and I can't fire my gun in the village. Perhaps I could provoke the deer and shoot them in self-defense?
But in all seriousness I have no interest in killing them. The fence seems to have worked and I try to only kill animals or insects when they are seriously posing a danger to my family or destroying my property. If the fence stops working and I see more ticks, I may very well look into further action but I'd start with calling the game warden or whoever would be in charge of that. I would seriously exhaust every available option before I considered killing the deer legally or illegally by some means. I would have to be pretty desperate. We do have a baby on the way and I would be pretty concerned about Lime Disease if I started seeing more ticks.
I was mostly joking, although I am in close contact with people who hunt and eat venison. Suburban deer are annoying because they know they are safe. My sister in law had to completely rethink her plan for flowers in her yard because the deer ate them all before anyone could enjoy them.
I was mostly joking too - mostly. Because you're right. Those deer know they're safe. They have, unfortunately, lost their fear of humans entirely. I can yell, clap, let the dogs bark - they don't care.
This is really shocking news. Alpha-gal syndrome is something that, as far as we know, basically didn't exist until ~20 years ago. Today it is being identified as possibly the 10th most common allergy in the United States! With climate change the range of the lone star stick is expanding further north, and this condition will continue to expand.
If anyone reading this article hasn't listened to the Radio lab episode about Alpha-gal syndrome I highly recommend giving it a listen. It is one of the most entertaining episodes they have produced, but it was made years before this study.
I work with a guy this has happened to, every once in a while he'll try a taste and his reactions to it are pretty intense.
He tried a "beyond burger" at BK but they cook it on the same grill as regular burgers so it messed him up. That's very allergic imo.
That's wild, and kind of silly of him to do. There are reports of the condition going away or getting less intense after 5-10+ years from the tick bite assuming no additional bites. Maybe he'll get lucky.