Lone star ticks are covering much of the U.S. Here's what you need to know

Lone star ticks are covering much of the U. Here's what you need to know It's a tick that hunts you down and transmits a potentially dangerous allergy to red meat. The New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger discusses the lone star tick and the risks of alpha-gal syndrome. NPR Health LISTEN & FOLLOW Health Lone star ticks are covering much of the U. Here's what you need to know July 1, 20261:20 PM ET Heard on Fresh Air Terry Gross FA: Burkhard Bilger Listen · Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www. npr. org/player/embed/nx-s1-5877341/nx-s1-9832375" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript It's a tick that hunts you down and transmits a potentially dangerous allergy to red meat. The New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger discusses the lone star tick and the risks of alpha-gal syndrome. TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. As you head out to summer barbecues, picnics, hikes and other great summer activities, you may already be vigilant about ticks because of lime disease, but there is a potentially more dangerous tick that you may not be aware of called the lone star. And unlike other ticks, it actively pursues its hosts. The lone star is spreading across vast regions of the U. S., and the illness it carries, the alpha-gal syndrome, is spreading in more than 30 countries on six continents, often spread . The alpha-gal syndrome is more difficult to diagnose and treat than lime disease, and the symptoms are more severe. In many cases, the victim develops an allergy to all red meat, including nearly microscopic particles of it. The allergy can become so extreme it can kill you. Milder cases can change your life if you're a meat eater or if you have cows or work on a cattle ranch or in the food industry, including restaurants. Pest control experts and medical research scientists have been confounded about what to do. In an article in The New Yorker titled "The Tick That Hunts Down Its Hosts - Including Us," my guest, Burkhard Bilger, reports on what we know about how the tick operates, how it has multiplied and vastly extended its territory, how it afflicts the people it feeds on, and the latest ideas about how to limit the infestation and treat people with alpha-gal syndrome. Bilger is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the 2023 book "Fatherland," about his German grandfather who joined the Nazi Party but worked with the French Resistance.