How a Tick Bite Made Me Allergic to Meat | Hacker News Reader

How a Tick Bite Made Me Allergic to Meat

discovermagazine.com

79 pointsrobg42 comments

"Helen Chappell is a museum exhibit developer and freelance writer based in Durham, North Carolina."

I checked the PubMed references kindly included in the submitted article. I think it's stretching a point beyond recognition to say that anyone has "proven" that tick bites have anything at all to do with food sensitivities. Cross-reactivity is often an intriguing theory, as many biochemicals are present in more than one organism, but this needs a lot more epidemiological work, and more in-vivo experimental work, before this speculative hypothesis can be considered an established fact. As always,

http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html

check the experiment design (there is no "experiment" here, really, but rather field observations), check the sample size (small here) and check all the other issues before taking this as fact. Further research will be needed before it is clear that anyone is actually developing meat sensitivity BECAUSE OF tick bites rather than just AFTER tick bites (or after something else that has nothing at all to do with tick bites).

Is this what you read? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085643/pdf/nihm...

This might be an entirely irrational fear, but throughout this entire article, I kept thinking of vegetarian/vegan extremists (and because I need to clarify, not all vegetarians are extremists, obviously). "What if," I thought, "these extremists started spreading lone star ticks around the world to further their ideals?" Historically, people have done some pretty crazy things for what they believe is right; I just hope intentionally spreading ailments won't be added to this list.

In any case, here's a video/article I saw two months ago, that summarizes this article, in case it's tl;dr: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/allergic-meat-lone-sta...

Whenever there's talk of veg*anism, many people automatically think of 'extremists'. Why is that? As a vegetarian myself, I know I'm not an extremist; neither are all of my vegetarian friends. Some of them are repelled by meat, but that is no different than people being repelled by Durian for example; meat does smell offensive if you're not used to eating it.

By extremists.... He's thinking of vegans out of morality--the type of people who say meat is murder.

If meat is murder, making people allergic to the fruits of their murder is a lesser crime.

If meat is murder then gunning down ranchers and blowing up meeting packing plants would be justifiable too. But it doesn't happen.

A bunch of non-meat-eaters taking their clothes off for PETA ads or throwing red paint on fur coats is a loooooooong way from what you are suggesting. Please come back to reality.

> blowing up meeting packing plants would be justifiable too. But it doesn't happen.

There have been plenty of incendiary devices planted at a variety of UK locations, including department stores that sold fur.

In that case, why are there not a lot of people dead from this if it is that prevalent? Either the people you are describing are the most rubbish terrorists ever, or they are just really not that into killing, which would make sense really, if their entire political belief is against killing things in general.

Animal rights extremists have set many fires in England. There are several reasons why no-one so far has died:

1) We have excellent fire response services

2) We have strict fire safety codes for buildings - those shops should have had working sprinkler systems for example (and setting off the sprinklers was the stated aim - water damage would have caused just as much financial damage)

3) Timing the devices to go off at night when there would be minimal people working

4) The aim is not to kill people, but to cause financial loss. ALF have been successful at that.

There are other reasons why few people have been physically harmed by animal rights extremists - most extremists are "non violent" (where violence applies to people, but not property).

The wikipedia article for the ALF is reasonably complete.

You are basically claiming that fans of The Smiths are a particularly dangerous social group. I don't think you need to worry, they were going to bring about revolution, but then they decided not to because they didn't want to go outdoors and were feeling a bit depressed.

I said vegetarian extremists - not vegetarians. Not all vegetarians are extremists, but there definitely are some. Please read what I actually write before responding negatively.

I think his point is that being quick to throw out exaggerated extremist views when describing a group can be tedious (if not offensive) to other members of the group.

Honestly, how many mentally-ill extremists who happen to be vegetarian do you think are going to risk jail time and notoriety just to breed ticks (!) and distribute them hoping to trigger this unusual side effect while knowing that they could just as easily spread other diseases?

What other diseases would prevent people from eating meat?

Phenylketonuria, for one, though that's not contagious, and prevents one from eating all protein.

Wait what, how did "mentally ill" suddenly drop in there?

Where would you place the likelihood that somebody who intentionally makes ticks bite people is well-balanced and without mental issues?

I'd place them somewhere towards the "dick" end of the scale of "dick or not dick".

Their ethics put harm to animals on the same scale as harm to people, and so they regard the rest of us as complacently witnessing something like mass murder. Just because we entirely disagree doesn't make them crazy, though their ideas make it hard to coëxist with us.

Being a vegetarian, now I exactly understand how Muslims might be feeling.

Dammit, there are countries in the East where people are primarily vegetarian and no one's an extremist.

A small side note, as a vegetarian, in a part of the world where that's not normal, I love muslims. You can walking drunk to any muslim run food-place late a night a tell them that I don't like their menu because I don't eat meat and they will make something vegetarian. Muslims understand that there might be something that you won't eat for one reason or another.

Seriously, that was your thought?

I was thinking "Geez, I wonder if this is why vegetarianism developed?".

I'm not so sure. I'm more inclined to believe that agriculture was probably the reason vegetarianism. I'd rather eat vegetables predictably than wonder if I'm going to be able to hunt my next meal.

This isn't a meat allergy, its a mammal meat allergy. Doesn't really make you stop eating meat since you can still eat fish, chicken, etc.

And lobsters. And mussels. And locusts, squid, termites, beetles, worms, spiders... no shortage of nutritious meat sources, many of which taste better than the average mammal, just that we "westerners" aren't accustomed to eating them.

Edit: should probably include this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail#Snails_in_cuisine

Midwesterners consider those vegetables. Not kidding. Ask for a "vegetarian option" and they might hand you chicken.

I have to admit I thought the same thing.

As to why anyone would think of this as others have asked in other comments below? You don't see many pro-meat groups (are there any?) fire bombing vegetable stands but PETA, ALF and other extremist groups who are vegetarian due to their views on animals do use violence; verbal or physical to intimidate people.

Pro-meat groups, known as the agribusiness, grocery, and foodservice industries, torture and kill animals and flaunt the carcasses to the public. So there is that.

More seriously, what would the dominant normative side of an issue need to even consider terrorism, the status quo is already in their favor.

I am more concerned than ever to learn the best ways to protect myself from tick bites. I was already concerned because of the life-changing impact of lyme disease.

I am currently travelling the U.S. in an RV, and I do a lot of hiking/biking/camping in remote areas. I'm sure a lot of other HN readers do as well.

What are some of the best proven ways to keep ticks off of yourself?

Something with lots of DEET is the most proven way, though there are a lot of possible issues with that, and if you're going off trail a lot you probably can't beat the "deep woods" brands that are something like 25%.

An alternative is Avon Skin So Soft. Theres a good bet you'll hate the smell, and it has shown to be less effective than DEET but seems to be regarded as completely safe. But, to me I feel like I've always had better results for repelling gnats/flys using it over DEET based sprays.

Permethrin treated clothing is the best deterrent I've used. Deet doesn't do much in my experience but if ticks get on pants treated with permethrin they get off as quick as they can. I've use this spray to treat my clothing before going out in the woods anymore: http://www.rei.com/product/768970/sawyer-permethrin-pump-spr...

One thing to be very, very careful of with permethrin-treated clothing is that it's very water-soluble, and extremely toxic to fish. If you go swimming while wearing permethrin-treated clothing, you will leave a trail of death in your wake, and not just of the bugs you were hoping to kill...

I feel compelled to note that it's also quite toxic to cats (but not dogs). This is one reason you should never use flea products intended for dogs on your cat.

Long sleeves, pants, and blousing pants into boots. Also, hat with wide brim. (and, personally, shaving my head, but that might be excessive).

My clothing is treated with Permethrin (it's standard for military uniforms, and available for outdoor clothing as a cream or spray). You have to be a little careful with laundering (avoiding dry cleaning).

DEET (and sunscreen) for skin and near edges of clothing.

    Having grown up in the woods, I’m so used to tick bites
    that I don’t even notice them half the time. But I
    remember this particular bite because it left an itchy
    welt behind that lasted for weeks after I’d tweezed out
    the tick itself. Long-lasting, itchy welts, I now know,
    are one of the hallmarks of an allergy-causing tick bite.

So this guy went weeks with a tick bite without seeking medical assistance?(!)

Maybe American ticks are different, but I'd always advise people to talk to their GP and get some antibiotics.

It really depends on the type of tick and the area you live in.. in some places they are harmless, others they are known to carry things that absolutely need treatment...

It's the usual advice when you're living in places where you don't meet (if ever) ticks. I rarely get tick bites where I live (once or twice a year), but in 2005 during our summer vacation we had to remove 10 to 20 ticks from every member of the family, every day, for two weeks. In these areas when you ask the pharmacy what to do, they just tell you to use a special tick remover and disinfectant... people there can't live getting antibiotics all year round.

Apparently, woodlands where there are lots of deer and/or sheep grazing around are infested with ticks. There's nothing much you can do.

If it's an allergy to a sugar present in mammalian meat, how does the body not become allergic to itself?

May be because the sugar is formed after breaking down the meat during digestion.

By the way, there are quite a few autoimmune diseases[1] where the body attacks parts of it. Some examples: psoriasis (affects the skin), celiac disease (small intestine), rheumatoid arthritis (joints), multiple scleroris (nerves), Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoimmune_disease#Classificati...

I would not call your ammonia-treated pink-slime mixed from hundred cows actual "meat". you should try some real food, even organic maybe.

There is a bright side: factory meat farms are responsible for a lot of pollution. I would think any reduction in demand for cheaply produced meat would have environmental benefits.

wow don't show this to PETA

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