Lone Star Tick Bite Can Turn Victims Vegetarian

A Missouri woman was perturbed to find that she can’t eat meat anymore, after a tick bite she received less than a year ago lead her to have an allergic reaction when she eats it.

Chris Richey only realised that she had the disorder after she ate some pot roast. After scoffing the meat she soon noticed hives appearing across her body, while it was also immensely itchy across her epidermis too.

Richey has confessed that the “weird” allergy has turned her life upside down. She added, “I don’t want another reaction. That’s just too scary. I can’t even begin to tell you how it makes you feel.”

58-year-old Richey noticed that she had been bitten while she rested with her husband under an apple tree in Missouri last summer. However, she was left misdiagnosed for months after doctors insisted that she simply had the flu or a stomach bug.

After conducting her own research Richey came to the conclusion that she was actually allergic to meat, which was caused by a tick bite. This caused her to develop an allergy to alpha-gal, which is a sugar that primarily resides in mammals.

The creature responsible for the victim’s impromptu case of vegetarianism is the lone star tick, which gathered its name because it is usually found in Texas.

Describing her life since been diagnosed with the allergy, Richey remarked, “What is bothersome to me is the cross-contamination issue and all the hidden ingredients. You’ve got think, and double think, and think some more. It gets tiring.”

Richey continued, “The next time I have to get a tetanus shot, I don’t know what’s going to happen because I don’t know what’s going to be in it.”

The lone star tick is also incredibly aggressive and females have been known to lay around 7,000 eggs at a time. Richey concluded, “This is the allergy from hell. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”

[Image via Melinda Fawver/Shutterstock]