Tick bites are believed to cause a food allergy that causes digestive disorders.
- The bite of the Lone Star tick, especially present in the United States, can cause digestive disorders.
- They are due to an allergy to animal products, developed by the immune system in response to the tick bite.
- In Europe, another species of tick would cause this allergy.
Spring sounds the return of sunny days but also ticks! And researchers warn of a symptom to watch out for: unexplained digestive disorders.
Tick bites can lead to meat allergy
Indeed, according to the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), the Lone Star tick, recognizable by its white mark on its back, would cause allergies to meat and animal products and cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea. and vomiting.
According to their study published in Gastroenterology, the Lone Star could modify the immune system of the human body and cause a sharp increase in alpha-gal antibodies. “Alpha-gal syndrome is an allergy that causes the body to react badly to the ingestion of mammalian-derived products, i.e. meat from mammals or products made from mammals such as cheese , butter, milk, cream, gelatin, etc. Symptoms usually appear 2-6 hours after ingestion of mammalian meat or food”, explain the researchers.
This allergy can also cause hives (an itchy rash), redness of the skin, facial swelling, or fainting.
Tick bite: the Lone Star is not the only species to cause digestive disorders
Clinicians are therefore advised to consider “alpha-gal syndrome due to tick bite, in patients with unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms especially”in those who live or have lived in an area where alpha-gal allergy is common, including the southeast, midwest, and east-central United States”, say the scientists.
So far, no cases of the Lone Star tick bite have been detected in Europe but a Swedish study suggests that the same type of allergy could be induced by the bite of another tick, she presents on the continent: the Ixodes ricinuswhich would also secrete alpha-gal, indicates France Info.
