Ep 153 Alpha-Gal Syndrome: A tick bite gone bad

One day, you’re enjoying a beautiful hike through the tall grass. A few months later, you find yourself in anaphylaxis from a post-hike hamburger. The culprit: a tick bite. In this much-requested episode, we take on alpha-gal syndrome, the red meat allergy triggered by the bite of a tick. Sometimes science is stranger than fiction. How exactly does an encounter with a tiny arachnid cause your throat to swell up and your skin break out into hives hours after eating red meat? Is it all red meat? Is it all ticks? How on earth did anyone even make this connection in the first place? Those are just a few of the questions we answer in this action-packed episode that has us venturing into surprising topics, like primate evolution, ancient epidemics, and cancer treatments. Tune in for all this and more.

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Fascinating & Funny

(long-time listener on a different platform)
This podcast might just be my #1 favorite! Very well researched, with detailed explanations of biological mechanisms and processes as well as great storytelling when it comes to the historical side of things. I love the genuine enthusiasm with which the Erins talk about all these horrible pathogens (because yes, they ARE FASCINATING) as well the occasional anger about the mistreatment of people in the name of medicine over the course of its history.