geoffrey modest medical blogs

  The spread of the lone star tick as a result of climate change/warmer weather has led to the northward spread of some tick-borne illnesses. A prior blog highlighted the spread of the potentially fatal Heartland virus, associated with the lone star tick ( http://gmodestmedblogs.blogspot.com/2023/03/climate-change-tick-disease-spreads.html ); this blog includes a picture of the tick as well as more general observations of the effects of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases. And, now the alpha-gal syndrome (AGS)   Details : -- the lone star tick bites have been associated with the alpha-gal syndrome, AGS (also called the red meat allergy or tick bite meat allergy), a potentially life-threatening allergic condition     -- it seems that AGS is primarily associated with lone star tick bites, though other ticks may also be involved (one suspect is  Ixodes   spp: the culprit also in anaplasmosis, Lyme disease, babesiosis, Borrelia miyamoto...

  a recent multicenter retrospective study conducted by several academic medical centers found that patients given an mRNA vaccine who had an immediate reaction to the first dose tolerated the second dose well (see  covid vaccine after immed rxn jama2021 in dropbox or doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.3779 )   Details: -- 189 patients had an immediate allergic reaction to an mRNA vaccine, defined as symptom onset within four hours of the first dose, at least one allergic symptom, and referral for an allergy/immunology consultation assessment -- mean age 43, 86% women, 69% Moderna vaccine/31% Pfizer -- first dose reactions:     -- flushing or erythema: 53 people (28%)     -- dizziness or lightheadedness: 49 people (26%)     -- body tingling: 46 people (24%)     -- through tightness 41 people (22%)     -- hives: 39 people (21%)     -- wheezing or shortness of breath...

  Anaphylaxis is a rare event after the mRNA vaccines, apparently more common with the Pfizer one (see  covid mRNA vaccine anaphylaxis jama2021  in dropbox, or doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.07.035)   Details:   -- this is an updated report of anaphylaxis from both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, after the initial reports finding the Pfizer vaccine had 11.1 cases per million doses and the Moderna vaccine 2.5 per million doses.  -- the current report is based on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) for anaphylaxis at levels 1, 2, or 3, after 9,943,247 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 7,581,429 doses of Moderna were administered      -- Brighton Collaboration anaphylaxis level: level 1 occurred in 50%, level 2 in 45% and level 3 in 5% (level 1 is the worst)           --for the Brighton Collaboration anaphylaxis criteria, see   https://www.spsu.ch/en/docs/media/273d46e0-5363-49c4-aec8-a2d190b75acf/4692a94e...