While alpha-gal syndrome is increasing, experts agree that preventing a tick bite is the best way to avoid the allergy to red meat.
The tickborne disease, which triggers an allergy to red meat, may also cause a life-threatening allergy to plasma or platelet transfusions in people with blood type O.
The illness is likely underrecognized, because it often causes mild symptoms and occurs in areas with limited surveillance, the authors say.
Findings from a 30-plus-year study challenge long-held assumptions about the factors that drive this tickborne disease.
A town near Asheville, North Carolina, appears to be the edge of this expanding territory.
Of the 11 cases documented since 2023 in the province, 8 patients had no recent travel history.
That rate far exceeds the estimated 450,000 US adults who have alpha-gal syndrome, a potentially deadly allergy to red meat and dairy products typically brought on by a tick bite.
As ticks expand into new geographic areas, taking steps to avoid tick bites is the best prevention strategy.
Patients being misled by a “chronic Lyme” diagnosis is the first wrong. Now the government has compounded it.
The plan includes funding for a pilot program aimed at controlling tick populations and finding better Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome treatments.
