This Tick Can Make You Allergic to Meat, and It’s Spreading
Work on genetically modified pigs might provide a solution to the strange illness
“Kristina Carlson didn’t think much about the tick she pulled off her torso while she was hiking in the mountains of North Carolina in September 2020. But back home in Mississippi a month later, Carlson complained to her doctor of aching joints and a bloated feeling in her stomach. Her doctor ruled out rheumatoid arthritis, and a blood test didn’t turn up anything definitive. Then Carlson started having eye infections. In February 2021 she suddenly found a strange rash on her face; an urgent-care facility doctor treated her for shingles, but the rash didn’t get better.
When she returned to her doctor’s office, a nurse practitioner asked, “Do you remember having a tick bite?””