Archive for the ‘Alpha Gal Meat Allergy’ Category

As Lyme Disease Expands Its Reach, New Research Offers Hope (But Not Really)

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2809395

Medical News & Perspectives
Climate Change and Health
September 6, 2023

As Lyme Disease Expands Its Reach, New Research Offers Hope

Anita Slomski
JAMA. Published online September 6, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.15358
JAMA Medical News

Public health warnings about vector-borne diseases in the US are heating up. In a May editorial, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made a plea for a vaccine against West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquitoes and has no treatment. By midsummer, the CDC reported that as many as 450 000 people in the US may have a meat allergy from the bite of the lone star tick, while other CDC scientists warned that mosquitoes are becoming resistant to the insecticides used in abatement efforts. Mosquitoes struck in August, when public health officials reported 11 cases of locally acquired dengue fever in Florida and Maryland’s first known case of locally acquired malaria in more than 40 years.

Meanwhile, the most common vector-borne disease in the US, Lyme disease, is on the rise.

“Lyme disease is definitely increasing in the US as the environmental niche of the deer tick and deer populations expand,” John N. Aucott, MD, director of the Lyme Disease Research Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told JAMA in an interview. The incidence of Lyme disease in the US nearly doubled from 1991 to 2018, from 3.74 cases to 7.21 cases per 100 000 people, based on confirmed cases reported to the CDC. But the true numbers are believed to be much higher.

According to the nonprofit organization Fair Health, US private insurance claims with a Lyme disease diagnosis increased 357% in rural areas and 65% in urban areas from 2007 to 2021. Using insurance claims, the CDC estimates that as many as 476 000 people in the US are diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease each year.

“In the last 20 years, the numbers of Lyme disease have really exploded,” said Linden Hu, MD, director of the Lyme Disease Initiative at Tufts University School of Medicine. “We’ve seen people get Lyme disease just from stopping at a rest stop in Massachusetts. So the number of people at risk is greater than it was before.”

(See link for article)

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**Comment**

There is very little hope within this article.

Summary:

  • Climate change clap trap continues to be regurgitated and blamed for what we are experiencing, despite ticks being ecoadaptive and the last species to die on planet earth.
  • PTLDS is emphasized only due to the fact there is “no known treatment,” so vaccines can be pushed.
  • The article gives false hope by stating the NIH has announced $3.2 Million in funding to support research on PTLDS; however, what isn’t mentioned is this money will do NOTHING to help patients.  It will simply line the pockets of biased, bought out researchers who will continue with the accepted, politically motivated narrative.
  • The falsely low number of 10-20% who continue with lingering symptoms is regurgitated when the number is upwards of 40-60%.
  • Hu managed to mention the fact that persistent infection after treatment is one hypothesis for PTLDS along with immune responses and autoantibodies.
  • And Aucott also managed to mention that due to his magnetic imaging studies which showed there is underlying biology to explain patients’ symptoms, it is not psychosomatic.
  • Of course nothing would be complete without a huge section on vaccines. (This is getting very old)  It’s also a good time to reflect upon the conflict of interest disclosures:

Dr Hu reported having financial relationships with Moderna and Tarsus. Dr Fikrig reported that he is funded by the NIH, the Cohen Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Emerging Pathogens Initiative. Dr Wormser reported receiving research grants from Biopeptides Corp and Pfizer Inc; being an expert witness in malpractice cases involving Lyme disease; and serving as an unpaid board member of the nonprofit American Lyme Disease Foundation.

  • The article made Lymerix seem like the answer to all of life’s ills when in fact it was yanked off the market for causing Lyme-like symptoms.  To those who tout the narrative, Lymerix, like all other vaccines, is “safe and effective.”  (This too is getting extremely old)
  • But, there’s a new vaccine to save humanity in the pipeline! Yay! This “antitick vaccine” encodes a cocktail of 19 proteins in tick saliva.  What could possibly go wrong?! 
  • Hu is developing lotinaner, used in the veterinary world, of which the FDA has given an alert about potential neurological adverse events, muscle tremors, ataxia, and seizures.
  • Aucott mentioned that the “classic” bullseye rash is a myth as only 20-30% have a bullseye pattern, and that many have no rash at all.  So, sorry all you suckers that didn’t fit in the box, were told you had a spider bite, and sent home empty-handed to suffer in silence.  Oops!
  • Aucott mentons testing problems: test results take 4-8 weeks before an antibody test is definitive, and following treatment – serology results will remain positive.
  • Wormser of course dissuades from prophylactic treatment unless a confirmed deer tick has been attached for 36 hours – the notion of which has been proven to be false.  He’s more worried about staph than people getting Lyme/MSIDS and living a nightmare. Plus, there are other antimicrobials in the toolbox that can be used that wouldn’t promote resistance.
  • Alpha Gal meat allergy is all the rage now because of The Great Reset and the desire to eliminate meat and get us all eating bugs.  A report has even predicted that the next ‘pandemic’ will conveniently come from meat.  It’s a win, win for ‘the powers that be.’
  • The article falsely blames climate change and the Lone Star tick when other ticks are involved, or even NO ticks at all. They have only discovered that tick saliva contains trace quantities of the sugar alpha-gal a known human irritant that many believe induces an allergic response.
  • But alpha-gal is also is used in the manufacture of foods, personal care products, medical devices and drugs — including vaccines.  Source
  • The questions begging to be asked are: why are they putting this known human irritant in things that humans ingest?  And why the sole emphasis on ticks when it’s in plenty of other things including vaccines, and is only believed to be caused by ticks?
It should come at no surprise whatsoever that the media is suddenly pushing a fear narrative over a meat allergy.
Again – right on time.

Category:

Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks, Treatment

The ‘Climate Emergency’ Is Coming For You

https://principia-scientific.com/the-climate-emergency-is-coming-for-you/

The ‘Climate Emergency’ Is Coming For You

Published on 

Written by Andy Kessler

Two years ago during Covid lockdowns, I wrote about climate control freaks, facetiously anticipating a future headline: “Bad CO2 Day, Lockdowns Enforced.” A joke that would never happen, right? Well . . .

Last month President Biden was asked on the Weather Channel if he was ready to declare a national climate emergency and responded, “We’ve already done that.”

Asked again if he declared a climate emergency, he said, “Practically speaking, yes.” There is no official emergency, but the president certainly thinks we need one.

The fawning press gave him a break—he didn’t really mean that, did he? But the notion of a national emergency today isn’t farfetched.

The United Nations website blares: “What you need to know about the Climate Emergency.” The European Parliament has declared one. So have hundreds of jurisdictions in at least 39 countries, including the U.K., Canada, Japan, and Bangladesh.

Climate-activist teenager Greta Thunberg gave away the game in 2019 when she said, “I want you to panic,” and, “I want you to act as if you would in a crisis.” Emergencies are an excuse to do whatever you want.

U.S. presidents can declare national emergencies, as spelled out in the 1976 National Emergencies Act, but they must be explicit:

“When the President declares a national emergency, no powers or authorities made available by statute for use in the event of an emergency shall be exercised unless and until the President specifies the provisions of law under which he proposes that he or other officers will act.”

I’ve searched far and wide for such provisions and can’t find them.

No matter, we’re living as if we’re already under emergency conditions. As of Aug. 1, the Biden administration has halted the sale of lightbulbs with less than 45 lumens of brightness per watt.

Incandescent bulbs don’t make the cut and are now banned. Thomas Alva Edison is rolling over in his grave.

Will electricity be rationed next?

Oops, too late.

In September 2022, the California Independent System Operator—which runs the state’s power grid, attached to sporadic renewables—declared an “energy emergency alert,” urging residents to ration power from 4 to 9 p.m.

In March, the European Union mandated energy consumption be cut by 11.7 percent by 2030. Brits are urged to turn their heat off at night for “emissions savings.”

The Swiss considered jail time if your thermostat is set above 66 degrees in the winter.

Sit in the cold and dark and like it! And wait till you see the menu. The EU already allows crickets and mealworm larvae as food. Are high-protein maggots next?

This nonsense could never happen in the U.S., could it? Well, in 2016, New York University professor Matthew Liao suggested, “Possibly we can use human engineering to make the case that we’re intolerant to certain kinds of meat.”

He even suggested deploying a “Lone Star tick where, if it bites you, you will become allergic to meat.”

Add to the mix the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which has an “ambitious target in 2030” of no meat, no dairy, no private vehicles, and only “three new clothing items per person per year.” Plus one short flight every three years.

That sounds like a climate lockdown to me.

Who are these kooks? “A global network of nearly 100 mayors” including 14 in America: Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Washington and Seattle. Michael Bloomberg is the president of the board. Better stock up on socks while you can.

When you declare an emergency, anything goes. The Biden administration pushes electronic vehicles, and this summer we had a glut of them—inventories were 92 days, double what is typical.

As of midyear, Ford had 116 days of unsold Mustang Mach-Es.

Maybe because saner Americans are becoming preppers and loading up on good old gasoline-fired cars before California’s Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations, which other states follow, outlaws them in 2035. Vroom, vroom.

Emergency-preparedness edicts abound: Gas stove bans. No plastic bottles for sale at San Francisco Airport. A new proposal from New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection would effectively ban coal- and wood-fired pizza ovens.

A city official reports that fewer than 100 restaurants would have to install prohibitively expensive emissions controls, so it must be a real emergency if New York is tracking down these last few ounces of ‘carbon’.

Climate lockdowns still sound like crazy-town, but the urge to curtail individual freedom is visible in countless government, media, and think-tank blueprints for a controlled future.

Saner minds should prevail—the Climate Emergency Act of 2021 evidently died in committee—but we need constant diligence to stand guard against the climate-excuse assaults on our liberties.

To show how adolescent this has become, last year Swiss Environmental Minister Simonetta Sommaruga suggested that residents “shower together” to save energy. OK, now we’re getting somewhere.

See more here climatechangedispatch

Header image: Janata Weekly

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**Comment**

Those desiring climate lockdowns also want dietary and energy controls, ‘carbon’ restrictions and ‘climate change’ linked together whether it makes sense or not.  The UN and WEF’s The Great Reset plan includes ‘smart’ (15 minute) cities, limits on travel, new food systems (insects replacing meat and a new spate of genetically engineered frankinfood), a full switch to ‘green’ energy (wind and solar) and more, and all of these changes will go more smoothly if there is a central power, such as WHO.

Category:

Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, Ticks

Meat Allergies: Yes, It’s Ticks

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/red-meat-allergies-tick-proteins-alpha-gal-syndrome/

Meat Allergies: Yes, It’s Ticks

Numerous studies indicate that it is not the free alpha-gal sugar that is responsible for alpha-gal syndrome, more commonly known as red meat allergy, but the attached tick proteins — and not just from the lone star tick.

meat allergies tick proteins feature

Editor’s note: This is part 3 (read part 1 and part 2) of a three-part series on red meat allergy, a serious, lifestyle-limiting disorder that causes individuals to experience mild- to life-threatening allergic symptoms several hours after eating red meat. Also known as alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), meat allergy has no cure — the only “treatment” is to avoid certain meats and animal products.

Most popular articles on meat allergy identify the culprit as alpha-gal, a sugar, but this is misleading. Even popular health-oriented websites and peer-reviewed papers do this.

However, the alpha-gal sugar by itself does not cause AGS. The culprit is specific proteins in tick saliva attached to alpha-gal. Since none of the four “ingredients of concern” discussed in part 2 — gelatin, albumin, glycerin, and stearate — contain tick proteins, they cannot induce AGS.

More than 35 studies conducted in 19 countries have established the tick-AGS connection.

Additional studies strengthen the AGS-tick-protein connection. A 2015 Japanese paper reported that 24 of 30 patients with red meat allergies were sensitized to a specific alpha-gal-linked protein in tick saliva.

Similar alpha-gal-linked proteins were found in tick species known to transmit alpha-gal, but not in others.

Two drugs mentioned in part 1, heparin (a blood thinner) and cetuximab (a cancer drug), may cause serious reactions in individuals with AGS but these episodes are similar to reactions after eating meat: they are a manifestation of AGS, not the cause. If they caused AGS this effect would be widespread among people taking these drugs, and would certainly have been noticed decades ago.

We also noted in parts 1 and 2 the special case of gelatin, a common ingredient in drugs and vaccines, which also causes allergic reactions in individuals with AGS. Since the alpha-gal sugar can only cause AGS when it is attached to specific tick proteins, gelatin by itself is highly unlikely to cause the illness.

If gelatin in injected drugs caused meat allergy someone would have noticed decades before 2009, when AGS was first described.

Another clue that alpha-gal protein, and not sugar, causes AGS is the unusual hours-long delay in symptomatology after eating meat. In contrast, allergies to common foods usually occur within minutes of exposure.

According to one hypothesis, alpha-gal attached to fats, as opposed (or in addition) to proteins, may be responsible for the delayed allergic response because fats take longer to digest than proteins.

Another possible explanation for the delay is the time required to digest meat, remove alpha-gal, and attach it to another molecule that can carry it into and through the bloodstream.

Some evidence suggests that after digestion and release, alpha-gal enters the bloodstream either directly attached to or surrounded by fats.

How about injectable drugs, like vaccines?

We also know from parts 1 and 2 that many vaccines contain alpha-gal, so connecting AGS to vaccines seems reasonable.

But if vaccination caused AGS the association would have been apparent decades ago.

Meat allergy is still extremely rare, with only around 110,000 “suspected cases” reported in the U.S. in the 13 years between 2010 and 2022. This calculates to fewer than 8,000 cases per year, or an incidence of about 2.5 cases per 100,000 people per year (based on the average U.S. population of 310 million during that time period).

During those same 13 years, Americans received more than a billion vaccine doses, including 667 million COVID-19 shots.

There are approximately 50 million U.S. children ages 12 and under. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination schedule lists 29 different injections through age 6 (excluding COVID and flu), and compliance is between 80% and 90% for the various shots.

This means U.S. children in that age group have already received more than 1.2 billion vaccine doses.

About half the U.S. population receives a flu shot annually. Over those 13 years, Americans received more than 1.86 billion flu shots.

Adding up all the doses (and for now ignoring all other vaccinations) and dividing by 12 years, we see that every year Americans receive, on average, 311 million doses of vaccines but experience just 8,000 cases of meat allergy.

That comes out to 1 case of meat allergy for every 39,000 shots.

Also, note that the four “ingredients of concern” have been used in oral and injected medicines for decades, but meat allergy has been known only since 2009. If exposure to gelatin, albumin, stearate and glycerin caused meat allergies to any significant degree this would surely have been noticed before 2009.

Finally, all biotech therapies at some point use products from cows to sustain the engineered cells that express these products. Although many processes have switched to animal-derived component-free cell culture media, 64% of current biomanufacturing processes still use “classical media,” which include bovine-derived ingredients.

Recombinant protein treatments have been used since the mid-1980s, and virtually all are injected or infused, typically at very high doses.

If injected cow-derived vaccine ingredients caused meat allergies they would have been identified and confirmed long before 2009.

This is not to vouch for the safety of vaccines generally but to emphasize that avoiding vaccines will not protect you from meat allergies.

One could also argue that, like the “four ingredients of concern” in vaccines and other injected drugs, tick species that transmit AGS have also been around for eons. If they were the sole cause of meat allergy someone should have noticed before 2009.

The same could be said for Lyme disease, which was first described in the medical literature in 1975 after a cluster of cases emerged around Lyme, Connecticut. The infectious Lyme agent, a bacterium, was only identified in 1981.

But according to genetic studies that microbe — the Lyme spirochete — has been around for at least 60,000 years. A sharp rise in the deer population, particularly in the northeastern U.S., has increased the natural host population for Lyme-carrying ticks. At the same time deforestation has brought people and deer — and the ticks they carry — closer together.

These factors might also explain the mysterious emergence of AGS in 2009 although ticks have been plaguing humans since Biblical times.

What if you’re not in ‘lone star territory’?

The lone star tick is found primarily in about 30 U.S. states within a geographic region bounded by Maine at its northeast corner, Florida (southeast), Texas (southwest) and Missouri (northwest).

This creature shares its extensive habitat with about half the U.S. population, as shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1. Habitat of the lone star tick. Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But AGS is a worldwide problem and in every instance, an endemic tick is the culprit.

Separate alpha-gal-carrying tick species have been found in Japan, Sweden and Australia. In the U.S., at least four tick species other than the lone star tick have been implicated.

A 2019 study confirmed three of these and added a fifth species to the suspect list.

So tick bites generally, and not the lone star tick, in particular, appear to be responsible for alpha-gal sensitization.

The message to people who enjoy the outdoors is simple: living outside the lone star tick habitat provides no guarantee against contracting AGS as this allergy is found all over the U.S.

What do antibodies tell us?

AGS diagnosis relies on patient history, skin tests, oral food or drug challenges and the presence of immunoglobin E (IgE) antibodies, which are mainly involved in allergic responses. But 30+% of Americans already carry AGS-specific IgEs and only a tiny fraction become allergic — so the IgE test provides very little actionable information.

All humans also carry IgG, IgM and IgA antibodies to alpha-gal-linked proteins. These antibodies make up about 1% of all the antibodies carried by humans.

These antibodies normally provide immunological defense against pathogens and “foreign” chemicals entering the body. Their presence signifies exposure to alpha-gal proteins but carries no clinical significance in terms of AGS.

It appears, then, that the presence of IgE antibodies to alpha-gal proteins is a hallmark of AGS and necessary for developing meat allergy, but by itself is insufficient to cause AGS.

The only difference between merely carrying antibodies and getting sick is a tick bite.

And therein lies the main mystery behind AGS: What is the biological switch that causes allergy in sensitized individuals, and how is it activated? What factors in tick saliva cause previously asymptomatic antibody carriers to get seriously ill?

Scientists believe that activation of basophils, a type of immune cell involved in allergy, initiates this process. Basophils release histamine, a well-known mediator of allergic reactions.

Independent of IgE status, evidence of basophil recruitment and activation very nearly confirms that someone has AGS and not merely antibodies, according to a 2019 paper.

The authors concluded:

“The basophil activation test should be considered as an additional diagnostic test before performing time-consuming and potentially risky oral provocation tests. The [test endpoints] were the best parameters for distinguishing patients with alpha-gal syndrome from subjects with asymptomatic alpha-gal sensitization.”

Conclusion

People who enjoy red meat are understandably concerned about an AGS diagnosis. Vegetarianism is not for everyone, and the potential presence of minute quantities of allergy triggers in non-meat foods can also be a source of ongoing anxiety.

Examination of the available evidence on how people develop AGS leads to conclusions that may surprise some readers:

  • The main culprit in sensitization and allergy is not the free, unbound alpha-gal sugar but alpha-gal attached to specific tick proteins.
  • Until further evidence is found: no tick, no AGS.
  • People with AGS may also experience severe reactions to products containing the “four ingredients of concern,” but these reactions are a consequence, not a cause, of AGS.
  • Many vaccines contain alpha-gal according to the CDC but it is unclear whether this is the free alpha-gal sugar or alpha-gal attached to proteins (most likely from cows). Regardless, the attached proteins are not from ticks so, according to the current paradigm, they cannot cause AGS.
  • Most news reports implicate the lone star tick to the exclusion of other tick species, which may lead to a false sense of security for individuals who live outside that species’ natural habitat. The safest course is to avoid encounters with ticks whenever possible.
  • Sensitization, as determined by a test for alpha-gal IgE antibodies, only rarely means a person will develop AGS. The overwhelming majority of people with IgA, IgE, IgG and IgM antibodies to alpha-gal will never develop a food allergy.
  • A basophil activation test can confirm AGS in individuals with alpha-gal antibodies whose response to eating meat is mild or sporadic.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

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Category:

Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, research, Ticks

What’s Behind the Rapid Spread of Red Meat Allergy – Ticks? Vaccines? Something Else?

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rapid-spread-red-meat-allergy-alpha-gal-sydrome-vaccines

What’s Behind the Rapid Spread of Red Meat Allergy — Ticks? Vaccines? Something Else?

By Angelo DePalma, Ph.D., The Defender

8/16/23

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website.

The lone star tick isn’t the only source of alpha-gal, a sugar linked to alpha-gal syndrome, also known as red meat allergy. Alpha-gal also is used in the manufacture of foods, personal care products, medical devices and drugs — including vaccines.

Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a three-part series on red meat allergy, a serious, lifestyle-limiting disorder that causes individuals to experience mild-to-life-threatening allergic symptoms several hours after eating red meat. Also known as “alpha-gal syndrome,” meat allergy has no cure — the only “treatment” is to avoid certain meats and animal products. Read part 1 of the series here.

Recent news reports on the recent rapid spread of alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), or red meat allergy, blamed the lone star tick. That’s because the tick’s saliva contains trace quantities of a sugar, alpha-gal, a known human irritant that many researchers and clinicians believe induces the dangerous allergic responses that are the hallmark of AGS.

But the lone star tick isn’t the only source of alpha-gal. One of many sugars that attach to meat proteins and other animal-derived products, alpha-gal also is used in the manufacture of foods, personal care products, medical devices and drugs — including vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides an informative, but incomplete list of vaccine ingredients containing alpha-gal, whose chemical name is galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose.

The CDC’s list includes bovine serum albumin, a protein produced from cow’s blood; gelatin, made from the bones and connective tissues of cows and pigs; magnesium stearate from numerous animal sources including red-meat animals; and glycerin, sourced from both animals and plants.

These substances, known as excipients, are added to many types of drug formulations to protect the more active ingredients from chemical and environmental degradation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) categorizes glycerin, stearate and gelatin as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS), but that designation applies only to foods, not to injected substances.

Serum albumin, the most abundant protein in mammalian blood, is not on the GRAS list but is consumed by ingesting beef and dairy products. Albumin is also used in many drugs and in beauty and personal care products.

Bovine serum albumin is itself an allergic irritant that can, along with other milk proteins, induce cow’s milk protein allergy in susceptible individuals. This is not the same as lactose intolerance, which results from the inability to break down milk sugars.

The Johns Hopkins excipients in vaccines list is interesting for the sheer number and chemical diversity of additives found in vaccines. Just focusing on the four ingredients the CDC says “may contain” alpha-gal, one finds 11 vaccines use bovine or calf serum, three contain glycerin, three contain stearate and nine use gelatin as an ingredient.

Two vaccines list both stearate and glycerin. An additional 22 vaccines contain various bovine extracts.

So could vaccines — and not a tick bite — be the principal source of alpha-gal exposure leading to sensitization, and rarely, to symptomatic AGS?

That hinges on whether alpha-gal is actually present in one or more of the four vaccine components of interest mentioned above.

Do vaccines contain alpha-gal or not?

Of the questionable ingredients, bovine serum albumin would be the prime suspect, as it’s found in so many vaccines, is independently associated with allergic reactions, and because many related mammalian proteins readily link to alpha-gal.

But alpha-gal does not attach to albumin natively, so any alpha-gal present in preparations containing albumin must be an impurity carried over from the protein’s manufacturing process.

However, that is unlikely because of how albumin is manufactured. The process, especially for food and drug applications, almost always includes chromatography, a method that efficiently separates proteins from very small molecules like alpha-gal.

How about the other suspected ingredients?

As noted previously, the CDC warns that gelatin, another vaccine ingredient of interest, may contain alpha-gal. An AGS advocacy website echoes this concern.

According to the Johns Hopkins Institute for Vaccine Safety, nine vaccines contain gelatin in quantities up to 15 mg per dose. These include vaccines against rabies, influenza and measles/mumps/rubella.

Whether a product contains alpha-gal depends on how the gelatin was sourced. Alpha-gal has not been found in gelatin derived from fish, but its presence in cow-derived gelatin is well-established.

A 2021 study described cases of severe anaphylaxis in individuals receiving vaccines containing gelatin. The authors stated:

“Gelatin-containing vaccines should be administered with caution or avoided in patients with AGS because of their high potential to activate basophils indicating a risk for anaphylaxis.”

In living systems, glycerine (also called glycerol) is a carrier molecule that helps transport  fats and sugars throughout the body. Alpha-gal could be a side product of glycerin manufacture.

However, in contrast to the potential gelatin-alpha-gal connection, unbound alpha-gal and glycerin are similar enough chemically that some alpha-gal might sneak into the final product as an impurity.

A sugar closely related to alpha-gal attaches to glycerine — but this seems to occur only in plants.

Whether this sugar might also cause allergic reactions is unknown. But if it does, glycerine sourced from plants could pose a higher risk to individuals with alpha-gal sensitivity than similar products from cows.

Derived from stearic acid — biologically a fat — magnesium stearate is used in a variety of medicines, foods, and personal care products. Although stearic acid attaches to many other chemicals, it does not appear to combine with sugars.

The concern over magnesium stearate as a possible source of AGS is therefore limited to situations in which alpha-gal is a process impurity. Due to the chemical nature of both molecules, however, and how magnesium stearate is manufactured, this is practically impossible.

Table 1 summarizes these findings.

Vaccine ingredient of concern, according to CDC Source: mammals or plants? Attaches alpha-gal natively? # of vaccines
gelatin mammals yes 9
stearate both no 3
albumin mammals no 11
glycerin both possibly 3
bovine extract mammals very likely 22

Table 1. Vaccine ingredients associated with exposure to alpha-gal, their sources, type of association, and the number of vaccines containing the ingredient

Note that “bovine extract” is a chemically undefined product that may include any number of suspicious ingredients, according to the FDA:

“Animal-derived products used in vaccine manufacture can include amino acids, glycerol, detergents, gelatin, enzymes and blood.

“Cow milk is a source of amino acids, and sugars such as galactose. Cow tallow derivatives used in vaccine manufacture include glycerol.

“Gelatin and some amino acids come from cow bones. Cow skeletal muscle is used to prepare broths used in certain complex media.”

Bovine extract is found in all four ingredients — albumin, stearate, gelatin and glycerin — that the CDC says contain alpha-gal.

Perhaps not alpha-gal at all, but similar sugars

Since so many individuals carry alpha-gal antibodies but so few get sick, the connection between alpha-gal sensitivity (based on a positive antibody test) and symptomatic allergy is at the very least mysterious.

But what if exposure to alpha-gal may not even be necessary for those antibodies to exist?

Many sugars trigger an allergic response, but sometimes the body confuses the original source of exposure with something else it encounters later on.

Sugars of one type that elicit a response to sugars of another type are known as “cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants.” Reactivity to alpha-gal, as measured by antibodies to this irritant, could therefore arise through exposure to a chemically similar sugar.

A study published in 2017 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology noted that:

“Cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCDs) in plants and insect venoms are a common cause of irrelevant positive test results during in vitro allergy diagnosis.

“We observed that some CCD-positive sera show nonspecific IgE binding even with CCD-free recombinant allergens when using the Phadia ImmunoCAP platform.”

In other words, an allergic reaction to some sugars could cause individuals to test positive for antibodies to totally different sugars. This study found that even cellulose, the main sugar-based structural component of wood, paper and many vegetables — and the “fiber” in many healthy foods — could elicit a false positive allergy test.

To summarize:

  • A significant portion of the U.S. population carries antibodies to alpha-gal but only a tiny fraction develop AGS.
  • A positive test for alpha-gal antibodies does not always mean a person has been exposed to alpha-gal.
  • The prevalence of alpha-gal antibodies in the U.S. population (nearly one-third) makes it unlikely that the lone star tick is the sole cause of sensitization.
  • Vaccines may be significant sources of initial alpha-gal exposure, sensitization and possibly of conversion from asymptomatic to full-blown AGS.
  • Alpha gal sensitivity is possible even when someone has never been exposed to the sugar.

Part 3 of this series will examine data supporting these points, and investigate possible mechanisms underlying meat allergy.

Angelo DePalma, Ph.D.'s avatar

Angelo DePalma, Ph.D.

Angelo DePalma, Ph.D., is a science reporter/editor for The Defender.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

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Category:

Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, Ticks, Transmission, vaccines

CDC’s New Online Tool Gives Useful, If Slightly Flawed, Information

https://www.lymedisease.org/cdc-tick-bite-data-tracker/

CDC’s new online tool gives useful, if slightly flawed, information

May 16, 2023

By Lonnie Marcum

The CDC has recently updated its website regarding ticks and their diseases.

The changes include a new online tool called the Tick Bite Data Tracker.  It allows users to track and visualize tick-borne disease data in the United States, advancing our ability to raise awareness.

The new tool provides information on diseases transmitted by ticks such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and ehrlichiosis.

The CDC webpage also gives information on the most common North American types of ticks and 16 known diseases transmitted by ticks such as babesiosis, Borrelia miyamotoi, Powassan virus, STARI, Colorado tick fever and more.

In addition, the CDC offers an updated page on Alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy to red meat and products derived from mammals. The condition is triggered by the bite of a tick.

National collaboration

The Tick Bite Data Tracker is part of the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) which is a collaboration among the CDC, local health agencies, state health departments and private sector partners. The NSSP allows these partners to collect, share and analyze electronic healthcare data in near real-time as it is processed.

Because there is no medical diagnostic ICD code for “tick bite,” the emergency department visits for tick bites are identified by specific words used in the medical record. For example, “tick” or “tick” and “bite.”

The Tick Bite Data Tracker includes interactive maps, graphs and tables that allow users to explore the data in different ways. Users can view data on a national or state level, as well as by county or even zip code in some areas.

One of the most interesting aspects of this new site is the ability to track emergency department visits for tick bites by week and month. This eliminates the strict reporting criteria that adversely affects statistics in lower incidence states like Florida, Texas and California.

What we see on the Tick Bite Data Tracker is simply the number of persons per 100,000 with reported tick bites who sought care in an emergency room. The new data can indicate when tick bites are most common in a region, and unlike other CDC surveillance data, it is updated weekly, rather than annually.

Tick bites peak in Spring

You can clearly see in the graph below how tick bites peak in the spring in almost all regions of the United States.

Unfortunately, the CDC lumps every state west of Nebraska as the “West.” Therefore, areas with higher incidence of tick bites, like California, are averaged with areas of lower incidence like Wyoming—giving an inaccurate picture.

In my opinion, at the very least, the CDC should have divided this huge region into the southwest and northwest to offer better representation of what is happening in those zones—but that’s another topic.

The site also points out several limitations of the tracker tool: “Results might not be generalizable to emergency departments that are not contributing data to the BioSense Platform. The keywords used to identify tick bite visits may under- or overestimate emergency department visits related to tick bites because of differences in coding, reporting, and availability of chief complaint text data between jurisdictions or over time. Finally, aggregated data by region might be less useful than state or local data.”

So essentially, you have to take this data for what it is: a slightly flawed tool that gives us a glimpse into what is happening in the tick-borne disease world.

Lyme Awareness Month is an opportunity to educate the public about the risks of Lyme disease and promote strategies for prevention and early detection. I hope you’ll use the Tick Bite Data Tracker, as well as additional information spread throughout the pages of our website to spread awareness.

LymeSci is written by Lonnie Marcum, a Licensed Physical Therapist and mother of a daughter with Lyme. She served two terms on a subcommittee of the federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group. Follow her on Twitter: @LonnieRhea  Email her at: lmarcum@lymedisease.org.

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**Comment**

A flawed tool that will  continued to be used against patients like the Iron Curtain.

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Category:

Activism, Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), Ehrlichiosis, Lyme, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks, Viruses