Man With Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Dies after Consuming Burger

Man With Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Dies after Consuming Burger

By Claire Cameron edited by Tanya Lewis

Scientists have confirmed the primary loss of life linked to a extreme meat allergy attributable to a tick chunk. The person, who died in 2024 after consuming a burger, had alpha-gal syndrome, a illness triggered by tick bites that causes folks to develop anaphylactic reactions to crimson meat and different animal-based merchandise.

The man’s case was detailed in a paper printed this week within the Journal of Allergy and Medical Immunology: In Follow. Based on the researchers, the person began to vomit hours after having a burger at a barbecue in New Jersey.

Two weeks earlier than he died, the person had skilled an allergic response to a steak. “The tragedy is that they didn’t consider that episode as anaphylaxis, and due to this fact didn’t join it to the meat on the time,” mentioned examine co-author Thomas Platts-Mills, an allergist on the College of Virginia Faculty of Medication, who helped uncover alpha-gal syndrome and recognized the New Jersey case, in an interview with NBC Information.

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Alpha-gal syndrome causes allergic reactions to a sugar molecule in meat. It’s not like different meals allergic reactions, nevertheless, in that the response is commonly delayed: folks can really feel sick hours after consuming meat, and the signs will be confused with meals poisoning. It’s most frequently attributable to a lone star tick chunk, though bites from different ticks could cause the syndrome.

Scientists suspect that many individuals with alpha-gal syndrome could not know they’ve it—within the man’s case, it took scientists months to work out that he had the syndrome and had died from it. And due to warming winters, tick bites have gotten extra frequent year-round.

Individuals who suspect they could have the syndrome can get examined to verify it. Whereas there isn’t a treatment for alpha-gal, scientists advocate that folks with the situation keep away from all meat merchandise, in addition to dairy, gelatin and a few medicines made with these merchandise.

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