Doctors have discovered a link between severe red meat allergies and lone star tick bites.
The tick is spreading from the southwest of the U.S. to the east coast. The most common symptom among patients suffering from the tick bites is a severe allergy to red meat.
"Classically three to six hours after eating red meat [a person with the allergy] can get with hives, swelling and problems breathing," Dr. Robert Valet, an assistant professor of allergy and immunology at Vanderbilt University, told Tech Times. "They may even have a full anaphylactic reaction in which their airways close."
Doctors say the reactions to the tick bites are especially dangerous because people are not likely to think they are allergic to something they have been eating their whole lives, thus delaying the person from getting prompt medical attention.
"The sugar from the tick engages your defense system that builds a defense, that then recognizes something on the meat as foreign and causes a foreign reaction to you," Dr. Bruce Wolf explains to WSMV.
A lone star recently bit Tom Cribbs, of Nashville, causing a red meat allergy.
Cribbs went to the ER after a severe allergic reaction including hives and welts. He told WSMV it took doctors 10 weeks to figure out why he was having the reactions.
"I was told basically for the next year I really can't eat any kind of red meat," Cribbs tells WSMV.
Doctors encourage anyone who believes they are suffering from a lone tick bite to see a doctor and get a blood test, which is the best way to diagnose this disease.
