this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2026
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Today I Learned

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"Alpha-gal syndrome is triggered when a tick bite causes a person’s immune system to develop an allergic reaction to meat, including beef, pork or lamb."

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[–] chellewalker@lemmy.ca 48 points 4 days ago (27 children)

My step-dad got bit by one of these. He can only eat chicken now and it sucks.

[–] BeUnique@lemmy.zip 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's so scary that a bite from something the size of a pea can drastically change your life... Does he remember when being bitten and how long it took him to start having side effects?

[–] forkDestroyer@infosec.pub 5 points 3 days ago

Speaking as someone who had a really bad bout of lymes: no bullseye, no sign of bite, and lost a good chunk of my life being couch bound.

Kill all ticks!

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

He can't eat rice or beans or fruits or veggies?!?

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

huh. i know a dude who got bitten by one and he's had to swear off all meat products, even poultry and fish. he was in cooking school learning vegan cookery when i met him.

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I have heard mixed things about specific meats, but the guy I met was similarly vegan. He made it sound like he just wasn't willing to experiment again. I think he got pretty sick. He was young too like thirty maybe.

I was raised believing I had to eat a bunch of meat, so I can totally see someone gagging down some chicken because they didn't know what else to eat.

yeah, like even if it was just temporary props to the dude for going back to school (!) to learn vegan cooking in Texas of all places. Self-interest is the initial motivator behind a lot of things that end up helping a lot of other people.

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[–] manualoverride@lemmy.world 32 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Somewhere there is a vegan breeding these ticks and laughing maniacally.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 66 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They wouldnt be too smart if they were, because it's not a meat allergy, it's an alpha -galactose allergy, which is a sugar present in most mammals that people eat, but also many other foods, like carageenan, which is in many vegan products and medicine.

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[–] Mistiygirl@lemmy.zip 25 points 4 days ago (2 children)

yep, it's possible. It's called the "Lone Star" tick

[–] ramasses@social.ozymandias.club 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

"Theirs only one man who would DARE give me the rasberry. LONE STAR"

[–] Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've lost the bleeps, I've lost the sweeps and I've lost the creeps!

[–] lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] a_person@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

The what...?

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Go figure that a tick with a name reminiscent of Texas would make you unable to enjoy a steak.

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 7 points 4 days ago (4 children)

and ticks that can paralyze you.

[–] maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I got fucked up by a paralysis tick. My throat swelled to the point I almost could not breathe. Was staying with friends in a remote rural area. Emergency services said It was too far to bother sending an ambulance. My friends were given a phone number to call if I stopped breathing. They would be instructed on how to give me a tracheotomy if that happened. Luckily for me it didn't.

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[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 18 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)
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[–] lemmy_acct_id_8647@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago

It’s been decades in planning by Big Vegan

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Ironically they mostly live in and around Texas.

[–] Fluke@feddit.uk 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Their prevalence is increasing with the climate shift, which honestly, I find hilarious. Drill baby, drill!

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[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

There's been an entire ass radiolab on this one since a decade ago:

https://radiolab.org/podcast/alpha-gal

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 4 days ago (7 children)

it's been very well known anywhere within a few states of texas for like a decade, and it's definitely spreading. The US government needs to get it's shit together and then wipe that tick off the face of the map the same way they were handling the screw worm flys and the mosquitoes that carry west nile and the other ones that carry dengu fever.

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[–] epicshepich@programming.dev 12 points 4 days ago

My wife loves beef but if she ever stopped eating it, I would call her my Alpha Gal

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

My friend literally refuses to go above the Mason-Dixie line because he might get bitten by a tick and get an allergy to red meat.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 3 days ago

plus some tick species also carry babesia in east coast, its a relative to the malaria, but milder.

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