The symptoms are typical of alpha-gal syndrome, a strange tick-borne illness first identified in the 2000s that induces an allergy to a specific type of sugar found in red meat. Most mammals (but not humans) have cells that contain the sugar, so it’s found in beef, lamb, and pork—all popular protein sources in the human diet.
Here's what to know about alpha-gal syndrome.
Since the sugar is not normally found in blood, some people’s immune systems recognize it as foreign and mount a vigorous defense to eliminate it by producing antibodies to alpha gal. Those antibodies are generally relatively harmless, cruising through the blood looking out for any alpha gal it may encounter. When people eat red meat, however, some of the alpha gal in the digested meat can be absorbed into the bloodstream, where the antibodies go to work.
Can eating any type of meat trigger alpha-gal syndrome?
Most mammals—but not humans—contain alpha gal, so someone with alpha-gal syndrome will likely have an allergic reaction to consuming meat from cows, pigs, lambs, goats, and deer. Even among these meats, some organ cuts like the liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, and intestines might be more likely to trigger an allergic reaction since they contain higher levels of alpha gal, according to the CDC.
For those who might be severely allergic, or for people with the allergy who continue to consume red meat, symptoms could intensify to include difficulty breathing, wheezing, or even anaphylactic shock. Because a severe allergic reaction is so dangerous, Pritt says, “you don’t want to face alpha-gal syndrome alone. There is the potential, especially after repeated exposure, of having a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction.”
Is alpha gal only found in red meat?
Pritt says other animal-based products, like dairy, butter, milk, lard and bone broth, may also contain alpha gal and could trigger an allergic reaction among people with the syndrome. Gelatin-containing products could also be a potential catalyst if they are made from animal products.
That’s why it’s important to protect yourself from tick bites—especially if you’ve already been bitten in the past by a tick, since you won't always know which type of tick you encountered. “We learned that if you get frequent tick exposures, once you develop this [syndrome], if you get another tick exposure, it can bump up or increase the concentration of allergic antibodies against alpha gal,” says Rodenas. “So you’re perpetuating the problem. Some people have outgrown this because they avoided further tick bites. But we have to follow people [for longer] since we haven’t been able to so far, because the disease is so young.”
Why are more people developing alpha-gal syndrome now?
Second, the expanding habitat of ticks could be leading to more bites and consequently more cases of the allergy. Warmer climates mean the tick primarily responsible, the lone star tick, has spread from the southern U.S. all the way through New England in the Northeast.
The difference between being exposed to alpha-gal syndrome from eating red meat and from a tick bite has to do with where the alpha gal enters the body. When people eat red meat, most of the alpha gal is digested in the stomach and small intestine, with very little being absorbed into the blood. And any alpha gal that is absorbed after digestion will be in a different, already digested form, while the original version comes from tick saliva, says Pritt. With a tick bite, all of the carbohydrate is injected directly into the blood, where immune cells are on constant watch for anything unusual. In the blood, alpha gal triggers an immune response, while it generally doesn’t in the digestive tract.
Why do some people develop alpha-gal syndrome after a tick bite while others who get bitten don’t?
As with any allergy, alpha-gal syndrome occurs against the backdrop of a person’s existing immune reactions, and people have different sensitivities to various compounds. Tick saliva also contains a number of other immune-affecting compounds that can modify the immune system, says Pritt. Some people might be more prone to activating an immune component known as IgE, for example, which tends to stimulate other immune mechanisms involved in an allergic reaction. So those who already have higher levels of IgE patrolling the blood might be prone to developing alpha-gal syndrome than those with lower amounts.
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