Experts say that this year’s tick season is shaping up to be possibly the worst in recent memory. Beyond Lyme disease and other tick-borne ailments, a new threat is emerging from ticks whose bites can prompt an allergy to red meat. Tick bites can cause a long list of problems, and now there is evidence that a tick bite could be the trigger for an allergy to red meat, according to Dr. Scott Commins, Associate Professor
of Medicine in the Department of Allergy & Immunology at the University of North Carolina. A woman from Maryland had a horrible reaction while eating an Italian-style pork sausage last year, and her symptoms were all linked back to a tick bite she got three weeks earlier, while walking her dog. In susceptible individuals, multiple tick bites appear to result in sensitization to alpha-gal, a substance present in red meat, which then causes an allergic reaction, according to Dr. Commins. READ MORE
