A 47-year-old New Jersey airline pilot has passed away from alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a severe meat allergy caused by tick bites.
According to the findings published in the Journal of Allergy and Immunology, the man contracted the disease when he went camping along with his family in summer 2024. After consuming steak, he suffered extreme abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting; however, he recovered the next day.
Following two weeks of the incident, he collapsed again after consuming a hamburger at a barbecue and was found unconscious.
Even after two hours of resuscitation efforts, the man was pronounced dead at 10:22 p.m.
In her autopsy report, the cause was listed as “sudden unexplained death,”however, his wife raised concerns, and contacted physicians familiar with AGS.
Testing by UVA Health’s Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, who discovered the syndrome, confirmed he lost his life due to the tick-related allergy.
Though he didn’t recall tick bites, his wife mentioned he had several itchy “chigger” bites, which in the eastern U.S. are often the larvae of lone star ticks.
These ticks consist of the alpha-gal sugar molecule found in beef, lamb, and other mammalian meats, triggering severe allergic reactions hours after consuming meat.
Alpha-Gal Meat Allergy symptoms include diarrhea leading to anaphylaxis, a fatal hypersensitivity reaction. It can only be treated by avoiding red meat.
Experts urged health care professionals and patients in tick-heavy regions to take delayed abdominal pain after eating meat seriously before the condition aggravates.
