Doctors at the University of Virginia have confirmed the first known death from a meat allergy caused by tick bites.
The man, a 47-year-old from New Jersey, was previously healthy but died suddenly just a few hours after eating beef. At first, the cause of death was a mystery. But after further investigation by Dr. Thomas Platts Mills, a leading allergy expert, the true reason came to light.
This allergy is caused by a bite from the Lone Star tick. The tick’s bite can make a person’s immune system react to alpha-gal, a sugar found in the meat of mammals like cows, pigs, and lambs.
Once someone is sensitive to alpha-gal, they can have allergic reactions after eating meat. Symptoms can include skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, and in serious cases, life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Although doctors have suspected that this allergy could cause death, this is the first time it has been officially confirmed. The victim had no idea he had developed the allergy. A few weeks before he died, he had gone camping with his family and eaten a steak dinner one night.
Hours later, he woke up with severe stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. He felt better the next morning and told his son that he thought the episode had been life-threatening.
Two weeks later, he attended a barbecue and ate a hamburger. He started feeling sick around 7 p.m., and less than 40 minutes later, his son found him collapsed in the bathroom. He had died suddenly, and an autopsy didn’t find any clear cause. His death was recorded as “sudden unexplained death.”
His wife, not satisfied with the result, asked another doctor to review the case. That doctor reached out to Dr. Platts Mills, who had discovered the alpha-gal allergy years earlier. Platts Mills and his team tested blood samples taken after the man’s death.
They found strong signs of sensitivity to alpha-gal and evidence that the man’s immune system had launched a massive allergic reaction. This led to fatal anaphylaxis — a rapid and severe allergic response.
Interestingly, the man had not noticed any tick bites recently. But his wife remembered that he had complained about 12 or 13 itchy bites on his ankles earlier that summer, which they thought were caused by chiggers. According to Platts Mills, many of the bites people in the eastern U.S. think are from chiggers are actually from Lone Star tick larvae.
Several factors may have made the man’s reaction worse. These include drinking beer with the hamburger, being exposed to ragweed pollen, and exercising earlier in the day. His family also said he rarely ate red meat, which may have influenced the strength of his immune response.
Dr. Platts Mills is now warning doctors to be more aware of this allergy, especially in places where Lone Star ticks are common. Deer populations are growing in many areas, which helps the ticks spread. People who experience severe stomach pain several hours after eating meat should get tested for this allergy.
The full case details have been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. The article is free to read and was written with the permission of the man’s widow. The study was led by Platts Mills and co-authored by Lisa J. Workman, Nathan E. Richards, Jeffrey M. Wilson, and Erin M. McFeely.
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