Ep. 908: The Lone Star Tick and Alpha Gal Syndrome
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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this is the meat eater podcast coming at you shirtless severely bug bitten and in my case underwearless you can't predict anything brought to you by first light when i'm hunting i need gear that won't quit first light builds no compromise gear that keeps me in the field longer no shortcuts just gear that works Check it out at firstlight.com. That's F-I-R-S-T-L-I-T-E.com. Holy smokes. Joined today by Burkhard Bilger, the writer. We're going to talk about alpha gal syndrome and the Lone Star Tick, but we're also going to talk about a bunch more of your work. And I got to tell you flat out right here, this is embarrassing. I've been a fan. I've been a fan of you for over a quarter century. Wow, that's great.
Dude, I'm not kidding you. In 1999 or whatever that was, 1999, 2000, I was a graduate student. And I got Harper's Magazine and it had your piece on cockfighting. And I was split between loving you because it was so perfect And wanting to kill you because I was so jealous. I'm not kidding you. And I've loved your stuff since, man. Oh, thank you. I know you've done books. You have a book, Noodling for Flatheads. And you kind of blew that. I mean, you made that whole thing in my mind. You took this esoteric backwoods practice and sort of made it to where every social media influencer on the planet goes out and has their day noodling flatheads. You know what I mean? You found that.
A friend of mine in Oklahoma made a documentary called Oaky Noodling with the Flaming Nick lips for the soundtrack. And now there's a whole noodling tournament in Oklahoma every year.
But you were on to that stuff. You were on to that stuff over 20 years ago.
Yeah, 25, 30 years ago.
And another favorite thing, one of my favorite passages ever written is you were profiling the sort of like up and coming bull riders. Can you explain to people real quick? And I'll tell you my favorite passage, but like, how do you explain your piece about bull riding?
Well, it's basically about how young bull riders get made and they, you know, they get started five or six on sheep and then they go to little calves and then they go to small bulls and steers. And, um, and that has happened that has gotten younger and younger, even as the bulls have gotten more and more fierce and terrifying and destructive. And so it's been a crazy kind of, Collision of two cultures.
And you did most of your reporting for that. Am I remembering right? Was it mostly in Nevada?
It was mostly in Oklahoma, actually. I grew up in Oklahoma, so I knew a lot. And there were a bunch of bull riding families down there that I knew. So I met them.
But I always tell people this story. Because you're writing a piece about bull riding culture and these young kids bull riding. And at the same time that you're working on this, in your own neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, there's a park. the parents all take their little kids to play and they came in and installed rocks in the park i mean flat rocks like two inches high yeah so you're writing about the parents who are deeply upset about the hazard that these rocks would present to their children should they get hurt on the rocks right and people being like hey i can't believe they're real rocks put in the park And you're like, you're living in this while also living with these bull rider people.
Right.
No, I mean, it was, I think it was the high point or the nadir of the kind of helicopter parenting thing. And in Park Slope, where I'm in Brooklyn, was really intense about that. These parents who wanted to oversee every single thing, create a perfectly safe bubble for their children. And then I go to Western Oklahoma and And, you know, some five-year-old, eight-year-old boy is getting thrown off, bloody face, might have a bunch of cuts, and his parents are like, get back up, boy!
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:15
2
Who is Burkhard Bilger and why is he on the show discussing ticks?
5:15–22:25
3
How did Bilger research this story and what other longform work has he done?
22:25–40:24
4
Are lone star ticks spreading—what drives their range expansion?
40:24–46:32
5
What is alpha-gal syndrome and how does a lone star tick cause a meat allergy?
46:32–47:00
6
How does alpha-gal differ from Lyme disease and why is it hard to diagnose?
47:00–1:10:32
7
Can alpha-gal resolve over time and what prevents recovery?
1:10:32–1:15:24
8
How do lone star ticks behave and what is a 'tick bomb'?
1:15:24–1:33:53
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The MeatEater Podcast
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Introducing: Gunfighters, with Bryan Burrough
Ep. 928: The Wreck of the Mentor
Ep. 927: Brent's Manitoba Moose Hunt | 12 in '26
Ep. 926: Suppressor Rules Change, Hangry Bears, Oil Worker Wins 100 Cooks, and More!