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You've probably heard of peanut or shellfish allergies. But a meat allergy? Not as common. Even weirder is what might be causing it—tick bites, according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
你可能听说过花生或者贝类过敏。但你听过肉类过敏吗？这并不常见。更让人惊奇的是，它是由虱子叮咬引起的。那是根据《普通内科医学》期刊的一项研究。
A few years back, folks started showing up in emergency rooms in the southeast U.S. with hives, swelling or worse—anaphylaxis—after eating red meat. For this study, researchers looked at three of those cases. And they found that tick bites, specifically those of the Lone Star tick, seem to be the cause.
几年前，美国东南部许多急诊室出现了大量因吃红肉而得了荨麻疹，全身肿胀的病人，更糟糕的是有人发生了过敏反应。为了找出原因，研究者们观察了3例病案。他们发现了虱子，尤其是孤星扁虱叮咬的痕迹，似乎它们就是罪魁祸首。
The bitten victim’s immune system appears to become sensitized to a substance called alpha-gal. And whereas all the major food allergies are triggered by proteins, the culprit here—alpha-gal—is a carbohydrate.
被叮咬受害者的免疫系统似乎对一种叫做“alpha-gal”的物质敏感。几种主要的食物过敏反应都由蛋白质引起，然而这里的罪魁祸首却是alpha-gal——一种碳水化合物。
Alpha-gal is found in the meat and fat of hooved mammals, like cows, sheep or pigs. So eating a burger can expose you to alpha-gal, which activates antibodies and leads to the release of histamines.
在患有胃气胀哺乳动物（例如奶牛，羊或者猪）的肉里可以发现Alpha-gal。因此吃汉堡会让你接触到alpha-gal，然后alpha-gal就会激活抗体，使其分泌组织胺。
Researchers say something similar to alpha-gal in the tick saliva may set off the immune system—which then goes after the alpha-gal in meat. And leaves a steak lover ticked off.
研究人员说道，虱子唾液里有类似于alpha-gal的物质，它会扰乱免疫系统。这种物质跟肉里的alpha-gal一样具有破坏性。爱吃牛排的人要当心，别被alpha-gal暗算了。
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