A tick called the Lone Star tick is not known to carry Lyme Disease. That’s the good news. But the Lone Star tick does carry something called alpha-gel, which is a certain kind of sugar not found in humans. Get a little alpha-gel in your stomach, no problem–it’s found in beef, pork and some dairy, according to NBC New York. But get a little in your bloodstream and you may suddenly develop a severe allergic reaction to meat–swelling, hives and difficulty breathing.
The Lone Star tick, despite its Texas name, is spreading all over the US–and seems especially happy in Long Island, NY this summer. (It must like the rich and famous.) Vanderbilt University Medical Center released a paper about the Lone Star tick allergy earlier this year–saying the tick-induced allergy can cause a person to go into “anaphylactic shock 4-6 hours after eating red meat” and suffer vomiting, diarrhea, and a drop in blood pressure.
