Two Novel Conditions with an Intriguing Link

​How could a Lyme disease lookalike rash and anaphylaxis to meat have anything in common? As I found out recently, they do. They both have a common vector, the Lone Star Tick, which is also known by its formal name, Amblyomma americanum, and is found predominately in the East, Southeast, and Southwest. It is an aggressive tick that loves humans.In fact, all three growth stages (adult, nymph, and larva) are known to feed on humans. Besides the common signs of irritation that often accompany a tick bite, a rash similar to the rash of Lyme disease has been commonly described. This "bull's-eye" rash is often accompanied by systemic symptoms such as fatigue, fever, headache, muscle, and joint pains. Even though the rash looks almost identical to the erythema migrans of Lyme disease, it isn't caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. In fact, researchers still have not isolated out the etiology of STARI or Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness.Treatment with doxycycline seems to be associated with disappearance of the rash and relief of the associated signs and symptoms. Yet, whether to treat is still considered the prerogative of the physician.The Lone Star Tick is also implicated in causing growing numbers of humans to develop a strange allergy to meat. More specifically, the allergy is to a carbohydrate present in mammalian meat called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or Alpha-Gal for short. The reaction may be delayed for several hours after eating mammal meat, causing confusio...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs