East coast Aussies becoming allergic to red meat after tick bites
Growing numbers of people living on Australia's east coast are developing allergies to red meat after being bitten by ticks.
News Corp reports that approximately 50 per cent of the population living on the east coast of Australia are at risk of developing MMA.
Even vegetarians have been impacted and its affecting people who also consume dairy, nuts and baked beans.
Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan is a vegetarian and she shared her shocking experience with News Corp when she found out that she was allergic to red meat, despite not eating it as part of her diet.
The Pymble publicist had been bitten by a tick in her garden a few months earlier and suffered an extreme reaction, doctors said she would be ok.
But Ms Lenoir-Jourdan knew something else was wrong when she began having allergic reactions to foods she never usually had problems with.
News Corp reports that when an individual has a 'severe local reaction' to a tick bite there is a risk the person can develop mammalian meat allergy (MMA).
The new allergy takes hold when a tick's saliva changes the person's immune system and they start to reacting to the meat of mammals.
News Corp estimates that there are more than 1000 cases of MMA just on Sydney's northern beaches.
Doctors at Mona Vale Hospital reportedly now routinely ask patients who present allergies if they have eaten meat or been bitten by a tick.
The link between anaphylaxis and mammalian meat was discovered by Clinical Associate Professor Sheryl van Nunen in 2007.
People with MMA cases will often experience delayed reactions to food- anything between two and ten hours and symptoms vary from hives, to gastrointestinal pain and anaphylaxis, reports News Corp.
Some people are unaware they have MMA and suffer delayed reactions such as stomach pain.
According to Dr van Nunen says it can be a struggle for people to get diagnosed but recommends using Wart-Off to freeze and kill the tick in situ rather than trying to pull it out.
For more information on ticks visit the Tick Induced Allergies Research and Awareness website.
