Tick putting nasty bite on meat eaters

CARNIVORES ON Long Island are cursing a tiny tick that has left hundreds unable to eat red meat, according to a report released on Saturday.

Cases of the debilitating alphagal allergy have become increasingly common on the island as the population of the Lone Star tick has exploded, according to Newsday.

“I have been treating people with this allergy since 2010,” Dr. Erin McGintee, an allergist in Southampton and the first physician to identify the condition in Long Island, told Newsday. She is currently treating nearly 400 patients suffering from the allergy.

“My youngest patient is 3 years old, and I have patients in their 80s and 90s,” she told the newspaper. “I see patients of all ages, and they are evenly distributed between males and females.”

A single bite from the tiny bloodsucking arachnid, whose name comes from the white splash across females’ backs, releases a sugar called alpha-gal, that the immune system views as a threat.

The compound is found in the meat of animals such as pigs and cows and the body reacts as if the sugar is a threat, sparking an allergic reaction whenever alpha-gal is eaten.

While government agencies don’t collect comprehensive data on the spread of the allergy, immunologist Thomas Platts-Mills and his team of researchers have tracked such cases over the past several years.

More than 80% of alpha-gal allergy patients they studied reported having been bitten by ticks prior to showing symptoms, according to their 2009 research.

The federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention warns the Lone Star tick “may be quite aggressive” at all three of its life stages, and says its distribution, abundance and range have increased over the last two to three decades.

New York City has tripled its fleet of tick surveillance stations to 21 this summer in response to an increase in cases of Lyme disease, which is also spread by ticks.