First death linked to tick-borne meat allergy reported
US reports first-ever death linked to rare ‘meat allergy’ syndrome
- The first death attributed to alpha-gal syndrome, a severe allergy to red meat, has been reported in the United States.
- A 47-year-old New Jersey man died after consuming a hamburger, having experienced a similar severe reaction to steak two weeks prior.
- His death was initially unexplained, but an allergist later linked it to alpha-gal syndrome after discovering his blood was sensitized to alpha-gal.
- The man had received numerous tick bites over the summer, believed to be from lone star tick larvae, which likely triggered his sensitivity to the alpha-gal molecule found in mammalian meat.
- Alpha-gal syndrome, caused by tick bites, has no cure and can lead to fatal anaphylaxis, with approximately 110,000 suspected cases reported in the U.S. between 2010 and 2022.