this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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“This disease doesn’t have to be deadly if we just know about it,” McCullick said. “A lot of people could be saved just from the knowledge that needs to get out there.”

First time I heard about it.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (3 children)

As the earth heats up, the environment within which ticks thrive gets larger. It's neat.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

So these ticks which force people to become vegan become more common. More vegans = less heat.

Sounds like a self-correcting mechanism to reduce climate change.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Not just that, they also won't die off during the colder seasons. Ticks galore.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Ticks are horrible, we need to start breeding super opossums immediately.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

I remember when it was getting popular in the news, but I didn't know it was currently at 10th place in the allergy-lympics.

Does the allergy to red meat wear off or is it permanent?

I looked it up, it looks like it usually wears off, but as the article states there isn't enough research yet to say definitively how long it lasts.

Weeerd.

What the heck is the biological advantage to a tick making a human allergic to red meat?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Presumably the allergy is a side effect of an actually useful trait.

Or not. Sometimes random genetic shit just happens, and if it's not an actual negative trait it doesn't get selected out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yea I guess so. Why do ticks have alphagal venom?

Weird...weird.

I want to know more.

I wonder if there are other allergies you can get from animal bites?

I mean cats can make you allergic to cats by biting or scratching you, I know that.

I just looked it up, but I can't find any other ones.

Oh, this thing says that someone with a pollen allergy can become sensitive to a specific flower if they're frequently bitten by bees that collect nectar from those flowers. Huh.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wears off. Took about 7 years.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Woo doggy. You had it? Did your eating habits permanently change or did your eventually go back to eating meat kebabs wrapped in flank steaks eventually?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

My husband had it.

We never bought meat to use at home anyways, so in that aspect nothing really changed.

However it was kinda cumbersome when invited by other people, especially since we live in a backwards place where people consume meat daily. E.g. grandmas kept cooking red meat despite me trying to explain it multiple times and getting offended when he didn't eat it.
Oftentimes my husband would just eat a bit of it anyways and then spend the evening in the toilet throwing up, just to avoid the strange drama that telling people you can't eat meat causes.

That's also how we figured out it goes away, since the doctor made it sound like it would be permanent. But eating the bit started to get less bad and then eventually stopped causing any issues. Now he can eat anything people serve again, which is saving us a lot of headache and drama.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Glad that it eventually worked out for you guys, that does sound like a pain socially.

What a bizarre malady, that timeline is wild.

Thanks for sharing your story!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Can I ask which general part of the country you're in?

I know the lone Star ticks prevalent in the East, but have heard that it's traveling Westward and is basically everywhere at this point.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I think it's Germany

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We're not even in the US. We assume he got it from a trip to Mexico because he has never been to North America at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Oh, wow. I don't even think they're native to Mexico, but they easily could have spread there from Texas. Yikes.

Thanks

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Oftentimes my husband would just eat a bit of it anyways and then spend the evening in the toilet throwing up, just to avoid the strange drama that telling

I'm not vegan or even vegetarian, I just prefer a low meat diet, and that about lines up with the response I get when people find out about it. Somehow people just can't fathom not craving red meat.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

whats the advantage of giving humans tbe or lyme disease 🙈?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's no inherent "advantage" so much as it's a result of the tick feeding off animals with those diseases inside them, and then passing those diseases on via its saliva to later meals like humans.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Additionally the bacteria that causes Lyme diseases may actually benefit from this relationship. The environment and nature doesn't make choices just at the benefit of humans, it's full scale every organism for themselves.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

How do you think those bacteria could benefit?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Kind of hard to ~move around~ when you're that small, so it could be transport related. Plenty of bacteria and smaller organisms hitch a ride on intermediary hosts just for transport reasons, but they could also benefit in other ways tbh, life is weird and creative like that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I like that mobility perspective, good point

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

There's no advantage. The saliva of the tick just happens to contain a sugar molecule that's also in Red meat and it sets off quite a significant immune response resulting in the affected acquiring a new "allergy" (unwarranted immune response) to the meat. It should theoretically fade with time, but the immune system is a complex beast and works slightly differently in every human.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Hello,

Not sure if this is so fit for this community, maybe [email protected] would be better?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My sister said she had this. But eventually it went away?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Can go away, but typically lasts a few years.

Sort of wish pet tick prevention medicines were available... like... just give me the dog heartworm tablets

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

yeah as someone on a keto diet and already allergic to soy and coconut... i need this LMAO i'm gonna die if i lose dairy and meat 😭

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Isn't that literally ivermectin? As in the horse dewormer that nutcases were taking during COVID because Trump told them to?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

No, ivermectin is given in doses to treat infections.

Something like Frontline is given as a preventative and lasts for months. That lasts for months is why I would care for it to be approved for human use as ticks become a growing concern.

Though I did mistakenly say heartworm - not all tick preventatives work as a heartworm treatment*

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Good thing I'm vegan.

Edit: the person who downvoted me for simply stating that is a c-u-next Tuesday.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I wasn't the person to whom you are referring. My downvote is for your edit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Yes, because of your childish edit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

When we say red meat, what do we mean? Why not just say meat

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

You know, i think I'd rather it just be lethal if i had it.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That's kinda sad. You'd rather die that go without meat?...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Someone must go

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I don't eat much red meat, but combine that with cheese and death is preferable.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I didn't know it affects cheese. Now I'm scared, too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Might I encourage you to try Follow Your Heart vegan cheese?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I'm open to new things. I'll keep an eye out for it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Violife is the superior tasting cheese!

Love eating slices of that shit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Now that one I've never heard of!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

It's pretty available here in NJ - at Wegmans and ShopRite (and probably others) and cheaper than Craft's NotCheese (and tastes much better). Definitely recommend if you find it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago