Tick borne disease creates meat allergy; raises need for reminders on tick bite prevention steps

"Up to 450,000 Americans may have been affected by a potentially life-threatening red meat allergy caused by ticks as many doctors remain unaware of what it is or how to treat it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In new reports released on Thursday, the CDC found that between 96,000 and 450,000 Americans since 2010 may have been affected by alpha-gal syndrome. The syndrome, also known as a red meat allergy or tick-bite meat allergy, stems from alpha-gal, a sugar molecule not naturally present in humans. Instead, it is found in meat including pork, beef, rabbit, lamb and venison, as well as products made from mammals including gelatin and milk products.

“Because the diagnosis of alpha-gal syndrome requires a positive diagnostic test and a clinical exam, and some individuals with alpha-gal syndrome may not get tested, it is estimated that as many as 450,000 people might have been affected by AGS in the United States,” the CDC said, adding. “Of those aware of AGS, knowledge about diagnosis and management is low.”

Continue reading at The Guardian (subscription maybe required) ->

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/27/tick-bite-red-meat-allergy-ags-cdc

Other news outlet's provide coverage as well

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/07/27/tick-red-meat-allergy/

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/27/metro/lone-star-tick-meat-allergy/

Original report from CDC ->

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7230a2.htm

Franklin's Health Director Cathleen Liberty talks about ticks and insect borne diseases in this podcast ->  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/05/fm-271-franklin-health-director.html

From 2017 to 2021, there was an annual increase in positive AGS test results across the country, the CDC report said. Photograph: Jason Ondreicka/Alamy

Health Department - Wellness Update - Lyme Disease Awareness

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Perform a tick check after being outdoors. Ticks can be as small as a poppy seed.  

Learn more at: www.cdc.gov/lyme

Health Department - Wellness Update - Lyme Disease Awareness

Boston Globe: "Thanks to climate change, ticks and allergies are arriving earlier"

"Is that familiar allergic tickle in your throat showing up earlier in the spring? Does it seem like ticks are spreading across New England earlier, too? If so, it’s not just you — it’s climate change. 

Thanks to the quickly warming Gulf of Maine, the region is warming faster than the rest of the world. Since 1900, temperatures in metropolitan Boston have climbed by about 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit), while temperatures on the rest of the planet rose an average of 1.14 degrees Celsius. 

That means we’re seeing shorter winters, earlier blooms, and more pollen. In a study published last week in the journal Nature Communications, scientists from the University of Michigan examined 15 types of pollen from different plants found in the United States and found, in computer simulations, that pollen counts are increasing."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/22/science/thanks-climate-change-ticks-allergies-are-arriving-earlier/

Direct link to Study referenced => https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28764-0

Boston Globe: "Thanks to climate change, ticks and allergies are arriving earlier"

MA News: (1) Prepare for mosquito and ticks (2) stable housing improves health for low income

"State public health officials on Thursday released a raft of summer safety recommendations for preventing tick and mosquito bites, as well as precautions to take in the water and in cars.

The tips came in a detailed statement from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, or DPH.

Regarding ticks, officials said the “the single most important thing” residents can do is check themselves for the blood-sucking insects once a day."

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/03/metro/mass-health-officials-detail-summer-safety-tips-dealing-with-mosquito-bites-dangers-water/

Link to the DPH summer tips ->  https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-department-of-public-health-offers-summer-safety-guidance

‘It makes sense’: Stable housing improves health for low-income families, study finds

"Improving housing stability for low-income families in Boston, and assisting them in accessing social services, sharply reduced their health problems, a five-year study has found.

On Tuesday, the Boston Foundation released a report on the impact of Health Starts at Home, an initiative launched in 2015 with two nonprofits, Health Resources in Action and the Urban Institute. Its goal was to establish collaborations between housing services and health care providers to offer comprehensive support to families with children who were struggling to make rent and put food on the table.

“Part of the partnership between health care and housing is you have one person connecting the household to a whole range of services, whereas in the past you would have sent them to a housing specialist, and then someone who specialized in [food assistance] benefits, and then a different person doing a different thing,” said Soni Gupta, senior director of Neighborhoods and Housing for the Boston Foundation, New England’s largest community foundation. “It’s a kind of focus in service provision that we don’t typically fund at this level.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/03/metro/it-makes-sense-stable-housing-improves-health-low-income-families-study-finds/

The Boston Foundation report => https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/press-releases/2021/june/health-starts-at-home-evaluation-pr-20210601

FM #556 - Health Director Cathleen Liberty - 05/26/21 (audio)

FM #556 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 556 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Health Director Cathleen Liberty  May 26 2021. We had our conversation via virtual conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

We talk about the major topics of 

• COVID-19 and the relaxation of protocols

• Mosquitoes, ticks and other ‘normal’ Health items including Salmonella 

• New Health Dept. podcast coming

The recording runs about 30 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Cathleen Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/d081316b-d574-43c2-b202-41f449658e66

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Health Dept. page  https://www.franklinma.gov/health-department

Board of Health page  https://www.franklinma.gov/health-department

Article on Healthy Families and Flocks  https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/resources/salmonella-baby-poultry.pdf

Norfolk County Mosquito District https://norfolkcountymosquito.org/

CDC article on salmonella outbreak  https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium-04-21/index.html

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial. 

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

 

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/  or www.franklin.news 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

 

Health Director Cathleen Liberty - 05/26/21 (audio)

Ticks, in abundance

"A late-summer drought virtually eliminated ticks in parts of New England but they’re back with a vengeance this spring.

Dog ticks, which do not carry Lyme disease like deer ticks do, have been especially active since early spring in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

And people who've been getting outdoors because of the pandemic are discovering the arachnids on themselves and on pets.

“People are outdoors a lot more because of COVID so we’ve all discovered this newfound love relationship with nature, which is really cool and I’m really happy about. So there’s just a lot more chances for ... human interactions with ticks,” said Patti Casey, environmental surveillance program manager for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture."

Continue reading the article online  (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/22/metro/after-an-absence-ticks-are-back-new-england-theyre-hungry/

FM #530 - Health Director Cathleen Liberty - 04/22/21 (audio)

FM #530 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 530 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Health Director Cathleen Liberty on Apr 22, 2021. We had our conversation via virtual conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

We talk about the major topics of 

• Earth Day
• COVID-19
• Mosquitoes, ticks
• Salmonella 

The recording runs about 35 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Cathleen. Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/ec483124-d95c-44c1-b64c-80c4914a2fab

--------------

• Health Dept page  https://www.franklinma.gov/health-department
• Board of Health page  https://www.franklinma.gov/health-department
• Article on Healthy Families and Flocks  https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/resources/salmonella-baby-poultry.pdf
• Norfolk County Mosquito District https://norfolkcountymosquito.org/
• CDC article on salmonella outbreak  https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium-04-21/index.html

 

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial. 

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit www.Franklinmatters.org/   or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Health Director Cathleen Liberty participating in a virtual School Committee meeting

"we found ticks pretty much wherever we looked”

"Disease-carrying ticks, commonly associated with wooded areas, are also abundant near beaches in Northern California, according to a study. They weren’t found on beaches themselves, but in the brush and vegetation beachgoers may walk through to get to the sand.

Daniel Salkeld, a research scientist at Colorado State University who led the study, said researchers wanted a “bird’s-eye view” of where ticks are found in Northern California and what they are infected with, such as bacteria that causes Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

“We were looking at coastal scrub and looked at redwood forests and oak woodlands and that kind of thing, because everyone tends to look at the same kinds of places,” he said. “And we found ticks pretty much wherever we looked.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/25/ticks-lyme-beaches/

Franklin Health Director Cathleen Liberty recorded a session last week that you'll get to hear shortly. We discussed several non-COVID-19 items and among them were ticks. One session from 2020 was focused on ticks and you can listen to that here  https://player.captivate.fm/episode/afe173c3-294e-49c5-9bec-ecf19105c9be

"The new term from this conversation is “questing”. Questing is the term for the tick looking to jump to a food source."