NICOLE Lenoir-Jourdan is a vegetarian, so having an allergy to meat was the last thing she expected.
But the Pymble publicist knew something was very wrong. She was having allergic reactions to food she’d never had a problem with, like yoghurt, baked beans, and nuts. A few months before she’d been bitten by a tiny tick in her garden and had an extreme local reaction.
‘‘I tell you, I looked like the elephant man,” she says. “My whole head swelled up. It was not normal. I went to a number of doctors and they all went, ‘Oh yeah, you’ll be alright’.’’
None mentioned that a severe local reaction to a tick was a risk factor for developing mammalian meat allergy (MMA), an emerging allergy where the tick’s saliva changes a person’s immune system to start reacting to the meat of mammals — beef, pork, lamb and sometimes even dairy and gelatine.
What Lenoir-Jourdan eventually discovered was that she’d acquired mammalian meat allergy from the tick bite, and she was in the 10 per cent of those who are also allergic to mammalian meat derivatives, like dairy and gelatine.
“I found out that all the foods that were making me sick were either dairy or had meat derivatives in them. The nuts I was eating came from China, where they spray nuts with meat flavouring,” she says.
Nicole wasn’t even a meat eater to begin with, but she still finds adjusting to her new allergy hard.
Nicole wasn’t even a meat eater to begin with, but she still finds adjusting to her new allergy hard.Source:Supplied
Having an allergy to mammalian meat caused by tick bite sounds absurd, but for a growing number of Sydneysiders there’s a lot of chicken and fish on the menu now.
If someone presents at Mona Vale hospital with a severe allergic reaction in the early hours of the morning the first thing doctors ask is if they’ve eaten meat for dinner. The second is when they were bitten by a tick.
Clinical Associate Professor Sheryl van Nunen discovered the link between anaphylaxis to mammalian meat and Australian paralysis tick bite in 2007. Back then it was a relatively rare occurrence but fast forward nearly 10 years and she diagnoses a new case of MMA daily at her Chatswood rooms.

It’s estimated there are well over 1000 cases on Sydney’s northern beaches alone. Numbers are so high on the north shore that a diagnosis of MMA in adults, commonly anaphylaxis, is as prevalent as the commonest food allergy in adults, peanut allergy.
Dr van Nunen says Mona Vale Hospital emergency department, which is in a hot spot for ticks, is well aware of the allergy.
“I’ve been saying for years … if you have someone who has a middle of the night anaphylaxis, the diagnosis is mammalian meat allergy after tick bite until proven otherwise,’’ she says.
Associate Professor Sherly van Nunen believes the allergies are a result of tick bites.
Associate Professor Sherly van Nunen believes the allergies are a result of tick bites.Source:istock
Unlike traditional food allergies MMA has a delayed reaction of anywhere between two and 10 hours. Most reactions happen between four to six hours after ingestion. Allergic symptoms vary, from hives, to gastrointestinal pain and anaphylaxis.
It’s thought that there are many people who experience milder reactions, such as delayed stomach pain after eating meat, who are unaware they have MMA.
There is still ignorance in the medical community, too. Dr van Nunen says it can be a struggle for people to get diagnosed (which involves a simple blood test). “Yesterday I was seeing a lady who had to struggle for her diagnosis to be found and recognised and it’s difficult enough to have this problem without needing to push for your diagnosis.”
Jana Pearce was diagnosed with MMA in 2010, but not after a lot of blank looks from doctors.
“Unfortunately, the most difficult to convince have been the medical doctors and other health professionals,’’ she says.
“Because they didn’t learn it in medical school, it means it doesn’t exist. I often got the feeling I might as well be from another planet the way they were looking at me. I actually had one specialist say to me ‘Ticks are parasites. They don’t kill their host’.’’
Jana Pearce found it hard to get a diagnosis.
Jana Pearce found it hard to get a diagnosis.Source:Supplied
Ticks are a problem on the whole of the eastern seaboard of Australia, which means there’s roughly 50 per cent of the population at risk of getting MMA. So, why is this allergy growing at such a rate and why are some places, like Sydney’s northern beaches such hot spots?
Dr van Nunen blames the proliferation of bandicoots. And this is where the allergy gets even stranger. When the tick feeds on a bandicoot or other small mammal, it picks up a small amount of alpha-gal from its blood, which is transmitted from the tick’s gut into the human when the tick is pulled off. It is this sugar that people with MMA become allergic to.
“What I often see is when people are starting to report bandicoot holes in their backyard, that’s when they start to get bitten by ticks,” Dr van Nunen says.
The other thing most people with MMA have in common is a large local reaction at the sight of a tick bite that proceeded becoming meat allergic.
If you’ve got these cute little Aussie natives in your backyard, keep an eye out for ticks and keep an ether-containing spray on hand.
If you’ve got these cute little Aussie natives in your backyard, keep an eye out for ticks and keep an ether-containing spray on hand.Source:Supplied
Pearce didn’t even know she had tick bites when her legs swelled up.
“I was walking through bushland in Sydney’s Lane Cove National Park and was bitten by ticks so tiny you practically need a magnifying glass to see them. I had the world’s itchiest rash on both legs from knee to hip and had no idea at the time that these itchy lumps were burrowing ticks,’’ she said.
Ten days later she was hospitalised with anaphylaxis six hours after eating red meat.
“I’ve had two life-threatening anaphylaxis episodes and had to be ‘brought back’ from both. I felt I’d lost control of my fate. I could eat something accidentally and just stop breathing. I was lucky both times that I was not on my own. It left me afraid to be on my own as I would not have time to administer Epipens, and phone an ambulance for help,’’ she says.
It’s a huge lifestyle change and Dr van Nunen says she sees many of her patients go through a grieving period as they accept their diagnosis.
“I had fear of outdoor activities that involved grass, shrubs, undergrowth,” says Pearce. “I still walk in the centre of tracks or footpath, well away from shrubs on which there may be a tick.”
And it’s the end of casually eating out at restaurants. Many are so sensitive, they can have an allergic reaction to a food that is cross contaminated with red meat during preparation or serving.
Lenoir-Jourdan only eats at vegan restaurants now, but says she misses the freedom she used to have. “I’d like to go to a restaurant with my family and know I’m not going to die.”
If someone who is meat allergic accidentally eats meat, apart from their allergic reaction, Dr van Nunen describes a strange thing happening.
“Often when they accidentally eat meat they report that the site they’ve been bitten by the tick lights up with swelling,’’ she says.
And yet some people are bitten by hundreds of ticks in their lifetime and don’t get MMA. Dr van Nunen believes they are immune and hold the key to perhaps curing the allergy one day.
Meanwhile, prevention is the best cure. Dr van Nunen advises using an ether-containing spray such as Wart-Off to freeze and kill the tick in situ and letting it drop off rather than pull it out.
This prevents the tick transmitting alpha-gal, and might just mean meat is still on the menu.
For more information visit www.tiara.org.au.

Doing a first aid course in Canberra with Canberra First Aid will gain you all of the basic first aid training skills for life. If you attend a first aid course in Canberra it will be the best $115 you have spent because you will have the skills to save a friends life.

Whether it’s a blister, a sprain or something more serious, here’s a no-nonsense, practical guide from the British Red Cross on how to deal with common running injuries

Knowing how to prevent and treat common running injuries and illnesses will help keep your training on track and your PB in sight. Here the British Red Cross brings us its simple first aid advice and shows us how you can use your running kit to combat your aches and pains:

Sprains
Running on uneven ground may increase the likelihood of getting a sprain, which can cause pain, swelling and bruising.

Top tip: Ice the affected area.

Why it works: Ice is proven to reduce swelling, bleeding and fluid build-up in soft tissue injuries by reducing the blood flow to the area.

Running kit: Carrying a bit of spare change on your run can come in handy if you get injured. Your cash could buy a bag of frozen peas from the nearest shop which you can wrap in a bit of spare kit and apply to the injured area.

Dehydration
When you’re out on a run, it can be easy to lose track of time and forget to replace your liquids regularly. Headaches, dizziness and cramp are all signs of dehydration and can begin when you’ve lost as little as 1% of your bodyweight through fluid and salt loss.

Top tip: Drink fluids.

Why it works: Whilst drinking water will replace lost fluids, isotonic drinks are best for replacing lost salts caused by exercise.

Running kit: If water’s your drink of choice, carrying a couple of isotonic tablets on you run could give you the best of both worlds and allow you to add one to your water to rehydrate if need be.

Cramp
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Most runners will know the feeling of a sudden painful cramp, which often occurs in the large lower leg muscles, like the calf.

Top tip: Stretch the muscle.

Why it works: Cramp can happen during a particularly strenuous run due to a build-up of chemical waste products in the muscle, often caused by excessive loss of salts and fluid. Stretching will help to relax the muscle and accelerate the disposal of waste products in the muscles.

Running kit: Here’s where a running partner is handy; get them to help support your foot and flex it upwards towards your shin to stretch the calf muscle out. If they’re feeling particularly friendly, they can rub the affected area on the back of your calf.

Diabetic emergency
Hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, can happen when a person with diabetes takes too much exercise or misses a meal. Knowing how to spot the signs are important, especially if you know your running partner has diabetes. Keep an eye out for excessive sweating, faintness, confusion or drowsiness.

Top tip: Give them something sugary to eat or drink.

Why it works: Sweets high in sugar help to raise the sugar content of the blood as quickly as possible and can prevent a hypoglycaemic attack from occurring.

Running kit: Jelly babies are perfect for helping to stabilise blood sugar levels and are also great for getting an extra hit of energy on longer runs.

Blisters
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Blisters are caused when the skin is repeatedly rubbed against another surface. Although they’re common, they’re easily avoidable and treatable

Top tip: Never burst a blister.

Why it works: The skin is an excellent barrier to infection but by bursting a blister you are breaking the skin and potentially introducing infection – worsening the injury and hampering future running.

Running kit: Blister plasters function as a second skin and provide more protection and cushioning than standard plasters. What’s more, they’re small, light and easy to pack on your run.

Bleeding
Trips and falls can be common, especially when you’re at mile 20 and you can’t feel your legs. A particularly bad fall could cause a serious bleed.

Top tip: Apply pressure to the bleed.

Why it works: Placing pressure on a wound will constrict the blood vessels manually, helping to stem any blood flow.

Running kit: This is where those sweatbands and extra base layers really come in handy. Whip them off and press firmly over the wound until the bleeding stops.

Make sure you have the first aid knowledge and confidence to use it on all your runs. Learn first aid with British Red Cross at redcross.org.uk/everydayfirstaid or download the free First Aid app.

An interesting article for all those runners who are planning on doing a first aid courses in Canberra. We can help you build your first aid kit for anything. Make sure you book in now before the end of the financial year to save the tax for your business. 

Late last year, Jayden Burleigh reflected on the devastating death of his little brother Lachlan in a triple fatal car crash in the Blue Mountains.
“Let your little light shine Lachie Burleigh. I miss your physical presence like nothing else,” Jayden wrote in an online tribute to his 17-year-old brother.
“My little bro man, thank you for giving me that special strength. It’s just really hard for me right now trying to fathom turning this into a reality.”
Brothers Jayden, left, and Lachie Burleigh died eight months apart.
Brothers Jayden, left, and Lachie Burleigh died eight months apart. Photo: Supplied
Now, the Burleigh family from Warriewood on Sydney’s northern beaches have been dealt another crushing blow, following the unexpected death of Jayden, 22, on the weekend, a short time after he was hospitalised for a redback spider bite.
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Their parents Deborah and Mike Burleigh, who have now lost two sons in just eight months, said Jayden was adored and respected by so many people.
“There is an immensely deep hole on this planet now, and his loss cannot be comprehended by the human heart,” they said. “However, his legacy will eternally live on as he continues his heavenly adventures together with Lachie.”
Mr and Mrs Burleigh said the cause of Jayden’s death would not be known for several weeks.
“What we do know is that only a week ago he was in hospital, recovering from an infection due to a redback spider bite,” Mrs Burleigh said.
“He had a general anaesthetic to drain a severe abscess at Nambour Hospital [in Queensland] and was there for four days. He had also just recovered from injuries sustained in a car accident a few weeks prior.”
His unexpected death came after Lachlan, 17, died in August when the vehicle he was a passenger in crashed on the Bells Line of Road at Bilpin.
Lachlan and his friends were heading home from a dance music festival, Psyfari, when their car collided head-on with another vehicle on the afternoon of August 30.
The young driver in Lachlan’s car survived with non-life-threatening injuries, but Lachlan and two other young men, Ben Sawyer, 19, and Luke Shanahan, 21, also died.
Lachlan’s death had deeply affected Jayden, Mrs Burleigh said, but Jayden had the “amazing ability to thrive through hardship and always bring joy and energy wherever he went”.
He also often had people in stitches with his stories, his parents said.
“It was only eight days ago while he was laid up after surgery in his hospital bed that he was on the phone to me relaying his hilarious experiences during hospital. That was him to a tee,” Mrs Burleigh said.
“Always adventurous, generous, creative and innovative. He adored nature, thrived on climbing mountains, exploring forests, diving in oceans, meeting people, and planning his next adventures. His friends and family were deeply loved by him. He was adored and respected by a multitude. He left a residue of sunshine and the extraordinary wherever he went and with whomever he was with.”
Jayden’s death shocked his many friends, who flooded Facebook with messages of condolence.
“Absolutely shattering news you have left this world to be reunited with Lachie,” a friend, Tim Stanton wrote on Facebook. “Have a beer with the boys up there for us. Thinking of you mate x.”
Another friend wrote: “Rest In Peace Jayden Burleigh, you’re now with your amazing brother in heaven. You were such an amazing boy and supported me so much. Your kind heart and beautiful soul will never be forgotten.”
Joey Atkins wrote that he had lost one of his “oldest and closest friends”.
“My love goes to the Burleigh family, who have lost 2 sons in the space of a year, both which i considered to be family of my own,” he wrote. “I have no words, I don’t think I ever will. I love you mate, throughout everything I always loved you. my heart is broken. Keep paradise warm for me bro, I know I will see you again someday.”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-family-mourns-death-of-second-son-in-eight-months-after-redback-spider-bite-20160411-go3z4d.html#ixzz45a57z2Cs
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

This poor family. I wish them all the best in the future. Please book in to a first aid training course in Canberra so that you can handle a bite or sting situation. There are many first aid training courses held in Canberra throughout the year and the best place to get your nationally recognised certificate is at a first aid training course with Canberra First Aid and Training.

• Cooling burns with water for 20 min lowers ICU admission likelihood by 48 per cent
• Cool the burn for more than 40 can be detrimental and cause hypothermia
• Cooling first aid limits energy flow in the affected region and reduces cell damage

RUNNING cool water over an acute burn for 20 minutes within the first three hours of injury is still the best method for first aid prior to hospital admission, a West Australian-based study has found.

The research highlights the significant effect pre-hospital first aid has on a burns patient’s need for surgical intervention, length of stay and Intensive Care Unit admission.

The cohort study, led by UWA and Fiona Stanley hospital specialists, took into account 2320 cases of burns recorded through the Burn Registry of Australia and New Zealand (BRANZ) between 2009 and 2012.

They found 68 per cent of patients cooled their injury before they were admitted to a burns centre, with 46 per cent of respondents using the method for at least 20 minutes.

When burns sufferers applied cool water for 20 minutes, the probability of them requiring graft surgery dropped by 13 per cent, while the same treatment resulted in a 48 per cent reduction in people needing ICU admission.

Water cooling also reduced average hospital stays by more than two days.

However, the data found cooling for more than 40 minutes did not have a significantly positive effect on the burns sufferer.

In fact, it proved to be detrimental, likely causing negative effects such as hypothermia.

Treating burns

“Last year around 650 people in WA needed in-hospital care for burns, while a whole lot more happened in the community,” lead author and prominent burns specialist Fiona Wood says.

“Over 50 per cent of the cases presenting to hospital have had some first aid.”

Dr Wood says no matter the severity, burns first aid treatment should start by cooling the burn and keeping the patient warm.

“Stay safe, remove the person from the problem, cool the burn area, warm and comfort the patient,” Dr Wood says.

“Cooling reduces the energy in the area so limiting the ongoing damage to the cells in the skin.

“We need to spread the word that [exposing the burn to] clean cool running water for 20 minutes can reduce the scar worn for life.”

100% correct. Come to a first aid course in Canberra with us and we will elaborate more on the basics but yes, running cold water has many good effects on a  burn and is definitely the bets way to treat. At Canberra First Aid we will not only focus on burns but offer a great all round course at a cheap first aid cost. Book now at www.canberrafirstaid.com

“…in the past, knowledge of first aid meant people were more able to manage their own accidents and illnesses and therefore less dependent on their GPs…”

A widespread knowledge of first aid once equipped millions of people to tackle emergencies ranging from a cut finger to a life-threatening seizure. Could a revival of these skills help reduce pressure on doctors’ surgeries and NHS casualty departments?

This is one of the issues to be probed by a £250,000 research project in which Barry Doyle, the University of Huddersfield’s Professor of Health History, is playing a key role.  He will act as mentor to Dr Rosemary Wall, Lecturer in Global History at the University of Hull. A specialist in the history of nursing, she originated the project and has been awarded an early career grant by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

In addition to his mentoring, Professor Doyle will also conduct research in France, gauging whether its contribution-based health system has resulted in greater knowledge of first aid among the population. Faced with paying a fifth of the costs of their healthcare, are the French more self-reliant?

The research project is titled Crossing Boundaries: the History of First Aid in Britain and France, 1909-1989. In addition to the historical dimension – intended to lead to articles and a book – there will also be discussion sessions with doctors, to discover if the lessons learned about first aid in the past could have present-day policy implications.

“This is one of the factors that stimulated the project,” said Professor Doyle. “There is a something of a crisis in the NHS around people trying to see their GP. This set us wondering if in the past, knowledge of first aid meant people were more able to manage their own accidents and illnesses and therefore less dependent on their GPs.

“So we will do historical research on a wide range of examples of first aid across the 20th century, but then we will get together with some current medical practitioners and first aiders to see what they can learn from this and what we can learn from them.”

The timescale of Crossing Boundaries starts in 1909, when Voluntary Aid Detachments – including auxiliary nurses – were established by the British Red Cross.  A major focus for the research will be the first aid activity and the knowledge diffusion conducted by the British Red Cross and organisations such as St John’s Ambulance.

The project will conclude with an examination of the influence of the Cold War. Did its close lead to the curtailment of first aid skills in the UK?

“Preparations for war – real and cold – often stimulated first aid knowledge and education,” said Professor Doyle. “The reduction of that threat after 1989 made these things potentially less relevant to society.”

Dr Wall and Professor Doyle will soon be appointing a research fellow to take part in the Crossing Boundaries project, which has now been launched and concludes in August 2018.

·         Teresa Pearce, the Labour MP for Erith and Thamesmead, has recently attempted to introduce legislation designed to give every child in state-funded secondary schools the opportunity to learn emergency first aid skills. Her Private Member’s Bill was not adopted, but Ms Pearce says she will continue to campaign on the subject “because I believe that every child has the untapped potential to save a life and I was shocked to learn just how few children are currently being taught vital lifesaving skills.  Less than a quarter of schools teach their pupils first aid.”

Hopefully legislation not only in the UK but also in Australia is introduced. All students in schooling should receive at least some basic first aid training. Completing a first aid course in Canberra is easy. Just contact Canberra First Aid and book in to a course now. We can also come to schools and do staff and/or student training so that your environment is a happier and healthier one.