The Tick That Causes a Meat Allergy Is on the Move

Deborah Fleshman woke up one night in 2008 to find that her legs were red. Along her torso, there was a foot wide Welts.

Ms. Fleshman, a nurse, hosted a cookout at her home in a town of about 1,000 people 25 miles south of Dover. She drank a few beers. She ate a cheeseburger.

She told her father that she felt like she was dying.

A tick bite can cause an allergic reaction to mammal meats like pork, beef and lamb, which is why thousands of Americans are diagnosed with alpha-Gal syndrome.

She said it felt like you slept with a cactus.

The lone star tick is named for the white spot on the back of a female tick. These arachnids are found in the southern United States, but are now being seen in parts of the Midwest and Northeast.

Scientists say the tick's territory is expanding because of global warming. The ticks thrive in warm and humid conditions and have more time to feed and reproduce with more hot days. The diagnoses of alpha-Gal appear to be rising.

"What we are seeing is a wide open door for ticks to continue expanding their range further northward, bringing more people into the fold of the arthropod-borne diseases," said Michael Raupp, a professor of entomology.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of tick-borne diseases in the United States more than doubled between 2004 and 2019. The tiger mosquito, cabbage-munching harlequin bug, and other devastating pests that were previously constrained by cooler temperatures have moved beyond their historic ranges.

We are venturing into unexplored waters in so many dimensions with climate change.

By nature, ticks attach themselves to their hosts in order to suck their blood, so they hitch a ride. The white-tailed deer's primary host has helped them to spread.

The lone star tick has advanced as far west as parts of Nebraska and as far northeast as Maine according to some maps. Climatic conditions can be used to establish populations along the coast of Washington, Oregon and California.

Scientists first noticed an allergic reaction to alpha-Gal in 2006 but it wasn't until several years later that they realized it was caused by the bite of the lone star tick. It had been found in 39 states by the year 2012 according to one study.

Ram Raghavan, an assistant professor in epidemiology and disease ecology at the University of Missouri, has mapped the lone star and said that the spatial distribution of the species has increased by at least 30 to 50 percent in the last half century. The ticks are expected to expand their range both to the north and west according to his research.

The lone star tick has established itself in at least two counties in Connecticut, according to the director of a state-run tick and pathogen surveillance program.

The recently identified Heartland virus disease and Bourbon virus disease can be caused by the lone star tick bite, and can lead to a variety of illnesses, including hospitalization and even death. The blacklegged tick can transmit diseases, but it can't transmit Lyme disease.

A sugar called galactose-alpha-1, 3-galactose, or alpha-Gal, is the cause of Alpha-Gal syndrome. Most mammals have sugar in them, but not in fish, birds or humans. The host's immune system is exposed to the sugar when the lone star tick feeds. This can cause an immune response in some people.

More than 34,000 people in the United States have tested positive for alpha-Gal syndrome. A map created by people who say they suffer from the syndrome indicates that it may have spread to Washington and Hawaii, but this does not mean sufferers were bitten by ticks in those states.

Even though the conditions are mild for some, others can be fatal. The symptoms of the syndrome can take several hours to show up, making it difficult to diagnose.

It's never predictable, according to a co-founder of the nonprofit Tick- Borne Conditions United, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

There are so many parallels in terms of patients being told by their providers that it's all in their head.

The C.D.C. states that some symptoms of the disease can linger for months after treatment.

In states where the ticks have been thought to be less common, sufferers of alpha-Gal experience frustration in seeking a diagnosis and disbelief from medical professionals.

It took Ms. Fleshman more than seven years and about a dozen trips to the emergency room before she found out what was wrong. There were no lone star ticks in the state of Delaware, so an infectious disease doctor told her she could not have alpha-Gal syndrome.

Ms. Fleshman said that she was livid.