Shots Health News – Researchers say they believe they’ve documented the first known death from alpha-gal syndrome — a red meat allergy caused by tick bites.
The findings, by researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The report says a 47-year-old airplane pilot in New Jersey fell ill four hours after eating a hamburger at a barbecue in 2024.
The man’s son found him unconscious on the floor of a bathroom surrounded by vomit. The man was declared dead at a hospital. The autopsy cited a “sudden unexplained death.”
“We can’t reduce the tick exposure, but if we can remove the tick as soon as we come from an outdoor activity, we essentially eliminate a lot of issues that arise after a tick bite.”
Two weeks before he died, the man had become ill several hours after eating a steak dinner, waking up with abdominal discomfort, writhing in pain, having diarrhea and vomiting. “I thought I was going to die,” he told his son.
But the man and his wife decided not to consult a doctor, saying they weren’t sure how to explain what had happened.
A blood sample collected after the man’s death showed he had an allergic reaction. His wife said that earlier that summer, he had 12 or 13 “chigger,” or tiny mite larvae, bites around his ankles that left itchy, small bumps.
But scientists believe those bites were actually from larvae of lone star ticks, which can cause alpha-gal syndrome.
What is alpha-gal syndrome?
Alpha-gal syndrome is a tick-borne illness that causes a red meat allergy.
Alpha-gal is a sugar molecule found in mammals like cows, pigs and lambs. It’s also found in the saliva of some ticks …
