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[Dead Man]

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/02/25/3951271.htm

There's no doubt that there are many health benefits to a well-planned vegetarian diet — and you live longer as well. But in most parts of Western society, vegetarians are in a minority — say between 2 and 10 per cent.

But this could change, thanks to the rapidly increasing spread of an Australian tick. For some people, one bite from this tick makes them allergic to meat for the rest of their lives.

The tick is the Australian paralysis tick. It lives along the east coast of Australia from Lakes Entrance in Victoria to up to Cooktown in Far North Queensland. The adult ticks are about four millimetres across.

They attach themselves to plants, and jump on a passing bandicoot or human. They'll crawl up inside your clothing and get some blood from you by biting your skin usually on the head and neck.

In most cases, you'll get a little local itching and swelling — now this is not an allergic reaction. Sometimes there will be inflammation at the site of the tick bite combined with a large swelling, and both the swelling and the inflammation will last for several days. In this case, you have had a mild allergic reaction to the tick bit. But every now and then you will have the major life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis.

Anaphylaxis can cause a rash all over your body. Swelling of your throat and tongue which makes it difficult to breathe, vomiting and diarrhoea, and a serious fall in blood pressure. In short, you are at major risk of dying. Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency.

Back in the year 2008, Associate Professor Sheryl van Nunen, an immunologist at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital, wrote up her remarkable observations. Her paper discussed a small cluster of 25 patients who had been bitten by the Australian paralysis tick. Several months after the bite, suddenly out of the blue, they all had an allergic reaction to eating meat. Seventeen of the 25 patients had one or more serious symptoms of swelling of the tongue, constriction of the throat, difficulty in breathing plus an audible wheeze when they tried to breathe.

Surprisingly, none of them recorded a major allergic reaction to the original tick bite. Finally, after a lot of work, the immunologists (and don't forget they're the really clever doctors) seem to have worked out the cause of the meat allergy.

It starts with a not-very-sweet sugar called 'galactose'. We humans can eat it just fine. When you combine galactose with a sugar called glucose you get lactose — the sugar in breast milk.

The trouble begins when you combine two galactose molecules together in a rather special way to make a bigger sugar called 'galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose', commonly called alpha-gal. All mammals carry alpha-gal, except for humans and the higher primates. In fact, it turns out we can be allergic to it.

So here's a scenario, a bandicoot or another cute animal is playing happily somewhere on the east coast of Australia. The Australian paralysis tick bites it to get a meal of blood and some of the alpha-gal from the bandicoot gets into the gut of the tick. After a while, the tick feels hungry again and bites a human and some of that alpha-gal from the bandicoot gets transferred into the human.

Now, many Australians get bitten by ticks, but very few then go on to get the allergy to meat. So something happens in this human — we don't know what — and their immune system slowly cranks into action.

After a delay — somewhere between one and six months after the initial tick bite — they have another regular meal involving meat, but on this occasion they get an allergic reaction. In some cases they can die from a full-blown anaphylactic reaction unless they can get medical treatment in time.

This allergic meat reaction will be set off by pork, beef, lamb and even whale meat, but not by fish or chicken because they are not mammals. It can also be set off by some marshmallows if they contain beef gelatin.

Today, Dr van Nunen sees about two cases each week of tick-caused meat allergy, and has over 500 patients with this condition on her books.

In more ways than one these people could literally — and I do mean literally — die for a steak.

Dr Karl telling more than I want to know once again.

 

[EdibleKnife]

I might actually be fine eating just fish and chicken

 

[Doczu]

A minute of silence for those who can't taste the greatness of a T-bone steak anymore...

 

[ЯAW]

PETA will develop this into a weapon and soon non of us can eat meat! It is going to be new world order where cows will rule.

 

[Drazgul]

What a little shit, if one bit me, I'd dedicate the rest of my life into eradicating the whole species. My short, woeful life without bacon and steak and hamburgers and...

 

[RedAssedApe]

tons of people must have this...only explanation for people suddenly becoming herbivores

 

[Omni]

My god!

 

[Uncle]

Will PETA try and weaponise this? And will Alpha Gal be the hero or the villain in that story?

 

[verbum]

Australia is becoming like a giant Florida.

"About 30 of those are large males and the rest are females. They are breeders and they do produce eggs on the farm.

"They are probably worth about $10,000 to 15,000 each, the larger fellows, so there's probably over $100,000 worth of crocodiles.

"We're just keen to see them go to a new home, so we're willing to pass them on relatively cheap.

"We've got some of the biggest crocodiles out of all of the parks here, some of the oldest crocodiles that have been in captivity, so we don't want to see them destroyed.

"It would be good to see them go to nice new homes, otherwise they'll be turned into skins."

Who's going to buy a 15 foot crocodile as a pet? I guess it would help with the kangaroos on your lawn.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-26/dozens-of-crocodiles-from-wa-north-on-the-market/5285636

 

[Dagobert Duck]

Oh boy, what a way to go... You just eat a nice quarter-pound steak and then die..good or bad?

 

[BGBW]

I believe this species has forfeited its right to an existence.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

I'm okay with this.

 

[Darklord]

That's the most terrifying thing in Australia.

 

[red731]

I'm okay with this.

Because you are vegetarian or simply because you don't mind people who like meat suddenly being stoped from eating meat?

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Because you are vegetarian or simply because you don't mind people who like meat suddenly being stoped from eating meat?

And because it would help the environment if the world as a whole reduced their meat consumption.
Out of all the solutions, this one is pretty effective, cheap, and elegant.

 

[ЯAW]

Because you are vegetarian or simply because you don't mind people who like meat suddenly being stoped from eating meat?

All in all, it would be good for the world if our meat consumption would be curbed.

 

[Dead Man]

And because it would help the environment if the world as a whole reduced their meat consumption.
Out of all the solutions, this one is pretty effective, cheap, and elegant.

Yep, people dying sure is cheap.

 

[Brerlappin]

Australia - Not even once

 

[red731]

And because it would help the environment if the world as a whole reduced their meat consumption.
Out of all the solutions, this one is pretty effective, cheap, and elegant.

All in all, it would be good for the world if our meat consumption would be curbed.

I understand your point, but you are horrible

 

[Doczu]

All in all, it would be good for the world if our meat consumption would be curbed.

Let those, who want to eat veggies, eat veggies and let the rest eat meat. Simple.

 

[SteveMeister]

Lyme disease is far, far worse. It can seriously mess you up for the rest of your life, and it's pretty common in the US. Usually passed by deer ticks, who are parasites to mice more than they are to deer, and are extremely small (around 1-1.5mm).

While I'd hate to have to give up meat, given a choice I'd choose that over Lyme disease.

 

[Dead Man]

Let those, who want to eat veggies, eat veggies and let the rest eat meat. Simple.

In defence of the notion that eating less meat would be good, problems with supporting the red meat industry are pretty big, methane emissions, shitty land use, it will be a problem eventually.

 

[ЯAW]

Let those, who want to eat veggies, eat veggies and let the rest eat meat. Simple.

It's really not. I have nothing against eating meat, I do eat meat, but the overall consumption is way over the board. Meat industry is doing irreversible damage to our habitat.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

This is not limited to Australia, the Lone Star tick in the US does the same: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/11/21/165633003/rare-meat-allergy-caused-by-tick-bites-may-be-on-the-rise

Some people are allergic to peanuts, others to shellfish, fruits, or wheat. But this rare allergy is a carnivore's worst nightmare: A tick bite that can cause a case of itchy red hives every time you eat meat. Yup, get bit by one of these buggers and you may be saying farewell to your filet Mignon.

For some people around the country, this is no nightmare, it's a reality – and it may be coming to your neck of the woods.

The meat allergy, known as alpha-gal for a sugar carbohydrate found in beef, lamb, and pork, produces a hive-like rash – and, in some people, a dangerous anaphylactic reaction – roughly four hours after consuming the meat. It's caused by antibodies to the alpha-gal sugar that are produced in humans after they are bitten by common Lone Star ticks.

Now, the government has not yet issued health warnings about meat allergies associated with these ticks — such allergies are still quite rare, and like many other food allergies, the presence of the antibody doesn't necessarily guarantee an allergic response. Scientists say the allergy-inducing tick bites have affected about 1,500 people since it was first reported in 2008 —compared to the roughly 25,000 new cases of Lyme diseases reported every year.

In the majority of cases so far, the tick bites have become a concern for meat-loving hikers, farmers and pretty much anyone spending regular time outdoors in Southeastern states like Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee where the Lone Star tick is commonly found.

But data presented at a recent allergy meeting suggests that even people living outside known Lone Star regions have reason to be wary.

Michelle Altrich, the director of Viracor-IBT Laboratories, one of two main reference labs offering a for the alpha-gal allergy, presented an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tick data that indicates the allergy-inducing bites are being reported in large numbers well outside known Lone Star tick areas.

"We were curious to know whether the prevalence of the allergy actually overlaid with the tick or if it was different," says Altrich, who discussed the findings at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's in Anaheim, Calif. "We saw a trend in positive results to the southeastern U.S. with the tick, but interestingly we also found positive rates varying from 4 percent to 23 percent [of samples submitted for testing] outside of the tick area. We've actually had positives as far west as Hawaii."

Why that is isn't clear, says Altrich. One possibility is that those diagnosed with the allergy in places like Hawaii were actually bitten while traveling in a high-tick area like Tennessee, she says.

Another possibility is that the ticks are growing in number and their territory is spreading to adjacent states. The range and abundance of Lone Star Tick has increased steadily in the past 20 to 30 years, according to the CDC — likely concurrent with an explosion of populations of deer, the tick's primary host.

Allergy researcher of the University of Virginia has been studying alpha-gal since 2002 and was among the first to describe it in in the scientific literature. He also consults for Viracor-IBT. He says the increasing number of cases may also be explained in part by the sheer number of bites inflicted by this particular species. "This tick is very aggressive. Its larval forms will bite humans, whereas none of the other American tick larvae will do that," he says.

Platts-Mills and his colleagues now believe that there is something in the tick saliva that causes humans to develop the alpha-gal antibodies, but he says so far no one is sure exactly what that substance is.

"Tick saliva is brilliant stuff – it has loads of substances – but if you ask me which substances are critical, I don't know. It's something we are working on," Platts-Mills says.

The bottom line? Preventing the tick bites is the only way to stop the allergy before it starts. So regardless of where you live, if you're going to be outdoors and you love meat – bring along a bottle of DEET.

 

[Dennis]

There's no doubt that there are many health benefits to a well-planned vegetarian diet — and you live longer as well.

lol wut

 

[Doczu]

It's really not. I have nothing against eating meat, I do eat meat, but the overall consumption is way over the board. Meat industry is doing irreversible damage to our world.

You can't force people to eat less meat. I'm pretty sure a lot of people will be pissed if they have to eat some shitty soy subtitutes or reduce their meat consumption to a certain level.
I'm not saying the problem doesn't exist, i'm just saying there is almost 0% chance to change someone's eating habits.

 

[BGBW]

Out of all the solutions, this one is pretty effective, cheap, and elegant.

Yes, people randomly having an allergic reaction to something they give no thought about eating everyday is really efficient and elegant.

 

[Rebel Leader]

This is not limited to Australia, the Lone Star tick in the US does the same: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/11/21/165633003/rare-meat-allergy-caused-by-tick-bites-may-be-on-the-rise

 

[ЯAW]

You can't force people to eat less meat. I'm pretty sure a lot of people will be pissed if they have to eat some shitty soy subtitutes or reduce their meat consumption to a certain level.
I'm not saying the problem doesn't exist, i'm just saying there is almost 0% chance to change someone's eating habits.

Release the tick bomb.

 

[V_Arnold]

Time to unload these on the whole continent of EU/US, also sprinkle some in India/China as well. *hysterical laughter*

 

[SquiddyCracker]

You can't force people to eat less meat. I'm pretty sure a lot of people will be pissed if they have to eat some shitty soy subtitutes or reduce their meat consumption to a certain level.
I'm not saying the problem doesn't exist, i'm just saying there is almost 0% chance to change someone's eating habits.

Well.... if people end up getting allergic to meat there is a pretty high probability they will end up changing their eating habits.

 

[Ydahs]

I saw a pretty large spider in my room while reading this. I think I need to move to a new country.

I hear Canada's nice this time of year.

 

[SolidusDave]

I'm already allergic against seafood, so that leaves me with... chicken D:

For some reason all ticks seem to transmit wicked diseases and health conditions, while at the same time I don't think they will be missed much in their habitats. So let's kill them all!

 

[Freaky Fred]

I once had a tick burrow into my weiner
I shouldn't have to say how I feel about these creatures.

 

[snarge]

Why couldn't you get something cool from bandicoot blood transferring over? Like becoming a werebandicoot.

 

[Ban Puncher]

 

[Doczu]

Well.... if people end up getting allergic to meat there is a pretty high probability they will end up changing their eating habits.

Yeah, they are going to eat a shit ton more chicken, fish and everything that tastes meaty. Problem still not solved.

 

[Dead Man]

Why couldn't you get something cool from bandicoot blood transferring over? Like becoming a werebandicoot.

This world is not Abrams Star Trek.

 

[woodland]

Yep! 2 people in my close family have had this happen. It sucks for them, cause they don't get to eat meat anymore, but they can still eat fish, chicken, etc. In some cases, they can eat really, really clean meat. I.e. no hormones, no additives, etc., but those are rare.

At least they're healthier though. Plus its an easy segue to a veggie lifestyle.

 

[Dead Man]

Yep! 2 people in my close family have had this happen. It sucks for them, cause they don't get to eat meat anymore, but they can still eat fish, chicken, etc. In some cases, they can eat really, really clean meat. I.e. no hormones, no additives, etc., but those are rare.

At least they're healthier though. Plus its an easy segue to a veggie lifestyle.

Sorry to say, it would not be an easy segue into a veggie lifestyle for anyone who was not already into a veggie lifestyle. If I got it, a shitload of chickens would be slaughtered every year while I tried to scratch the itch.

 

[Shizzlee]

I once had a tick burrow into my weiner

 

[Trent Strong]

It would be nice if everyone in the world went vegetarian.

 

[MemoryHumanity]

FUCK YOU

 

[linsivvi]

There's no doubt that there are many health benefits to a well-planned vegetarian diet — and you live longer as well.

Yeah that's totally false.

 

[Dead Man]

Yeah that's totally false.

Far from proven, but there is plenty of data that offers support for reduced meat intake:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#Longevity

A 1999 metastudy combined data from five studies from western countries.[91] The metastudy reported mortality ratios, where lower numbers indicated fewer deaths, for fish eaters to be 0.82, vegetarians to be 0.84, occasional meat eaters (eat meat less than once per week) to be 0.84. Regular meat eaters had the base mortality rate of 1.0, while the number for vegans was very uncertain (anywhere between 0.7 and 1.44) due to too few data points. The study reported the numbers of deaths in each category, and expected error ranges for each ratio, and adjustments made to the data. However, the "lower mortality was due largely to the relatively low prevalence of smoking in these [vegetarian] cohorts". Out of the major causes of death studied, only one difference in mortality rate was attributed to the difference in diet, as the conclusion states: "...vegetarians had a 24% lower mortality from ischaemic heart disease than non-vegetarians, but no associations of a vegetarian diet with other major causes of death were established".[91]

In Mortality in British vegetarians,[92] a similar conclusion is drawn: "British vegetarians have low mortality compared with the general population. Their death rates are similar to those of comparable non-vegetarians, suggesting that much of this benefit may be attributed to non-dietary lifestyle factors such as a low prevalence of smoking and a generally high socio-economic status, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish."[93]

The Adventist Health Studies is ongoing research that documents the life expectancy in Seventh-day Adventists. This is the only study among others with similar methodology which had favourable indication for vegetarianism. The researchers found that a combination of different lifestyle choices could influence life expectancy by as much as 10 years. Among the lifestyle choices investigated, a vegetarian diet was estimated to confer an extra 1–1/2 to 2 years of life. The researchers concluded that "the life expectancies of California Adventist men and women are higher than those of any other well-described natural population" at 78.5 years for men and 82.3 years for women. The life expectancy of California Adventists surviving to age 30 was 83.3 years for men and 85.7 years for women.[94]

The Adventist health study is again incorporated into a metastudy titled "Does low meat consumption increase life expectancy in humans?" published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which concluded that low meat eating (less than once per week) and other lifestyle choices significantly increase life expectancy, relative to a group with high meat intake. The study concluded that "The findings from one cohort of healthy adults raises the possibility that long-term (≥ 2 decades) adherence to a vegetarian diet can further produce a significant 3.6-y increase in life expectancy." However, the study also concluded that "Some of the variation in the survival advantage in vegetarians may have been due to marked differences between studies in adjustment for confounders, the definition of vegetarian, measurement error, age distribution, the healthy volunteer effect, and intake of specific plant foods by the vegetarians." It further states that "This raises the possibility that a low-meat, high plant-food dietary pattern may be the true causal protective factor rather than simply elimination of meat from the diet." In a recent review of studies relating low-meat diet patterns to all-cause mortality, Singh noted that "5 out of 5 studies indicated that adults who followed a low meat, high plant-food diet pattern experienced significant or marginally significant decreases in mortality risk relative to other patterns of intake."[95]

Statistical studies, such as comparing life expectancy with regional areas and local diets in Europe also have found life expectancy considerably greater in southern France, where a low meat, high plant Mediterranean diet is common, than northern France, where a diet with high meat content is more common.[96]

A study by the Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, and Institute of Physiological Chemistry looked at a group of 19 vegetarians (lacto-ovo) and used as a comparison a group of 19 omnivorous subjects recruited from the same region. The study found that this group of vegetarians (lacto-ovo) have a significantly higher amount of plasma carboxymethyllysine and advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) compared to this group of non-vegetarians.[97] Carboxymethyllysine is a glycation product which represents "a general marker of oxidative stress and long-term damage of proteins in aging, atherosclerosis and diabetes" and "[a]dvanced glycation end products (AGEs) may play an important adverse role in process of atherosclerosis, diabetes, aging and chronic renal failure".[97]

 

[Antiwhippy]

I would miss pork, but I'm totally ok with just living off chicken and fish.

 

[SneakyStephan]

And because it would help the environment if the world as a whole reduced their meat consumption.
Out of all the solutions, this one is pretty effective, cheap, and elegant.

I'll eat an extra steak in your honor tonight (no really, I will)

OT: fuck ticks, they also carry lyme disease

I got one in my ear as a kid

 

[linsivvi]

Far from proven, but there is plenty of data that offers support for reduced meat intake:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#Longevity

It's not a scientific study. Correlation does not imply causation. There can be a lot of other factors.

 

[Dead Man]

It's not a scientific study. Correlation does not imply causation. There can be a lot of other factors.

Wow, rote dismissal without even reading the quoted portion. It all says there are a multitude of factors. You should just say up front if there is no evidence that would sway you.

 

[linsivvi]

Wow, rote dismissal without even reading the quoted portion. It all says there are a multitude of factors. You should just say up front if there is no evidence that would sway you.

The study you quoted has been circulated around the Internet for years, and many people have written about why you cannot draw such a conclusion. It's a statistic, that's it.

The moment I saw "Adventist Health Studies" is the moment I realized I've read this and have read the counter articles dozens of times.