When I was scanning tick related headlines the other day, I ran across story that made me growl. It was this story about alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) which, in the last several years, has become something of a media darling in Canada. AGS is a rare red meat allergy that is sometimes (read: rarely) caused by the bite of a lone star tick, and has the potential to be quite severe. In the case highlighted in the linked article, it was fatal. So, yikes!

The story does an excellent job of underscoring the difficulties regular folks and medical examiners alike have recognizing AGS. And really, why would anyone think untainted red meat would cause such a severe reaction? It's not surprising the cause of death was initially missed. The chain of events that led to the post-mortem diagnosis is as remarkable as it is tenuous. If it doesn't inspire you to became a vegetarian, it's unlikely anything will.

What made me growl was the way this American story was given a Canadian spin. That was necessary for a couple of reasons, one of which is that lone star ticks are not yet known to have formed permanent colonies in Canada although they are expected to do so immanently. After noting that ticks are a growing problem in Canada due to the effects of climate change, the next two paragraphs are all about blacklegged ticks and Lyme disease.

This story is about neither. It's not even a story about ticks in general. It is a very specific story about a very specific oddball allergy that can be a consequence of a bite from a very specific tick. I would have liked to see the final two paragraphs focus very specifically on lone star ticks, the in-roads they have been making into Canada in recent years, and the illnesses they are known or suspected to cause in humans including ehrlichiosis, southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI), Rocky Mountain spotted fever, rabbit fever and Q fever.

Photo by Edson Saldaña on Unsplash.