New Jersey man believed to be first person to die from meat allergy caused by tick bite
A man from New Jersey is considered to be the first person to die from a meat allergy triggered by a tick bite clinical researchers approved this week After months of inspection a group of scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine determined the -year-old airline pilot died from alpha-gal syndrome an allergy to red meat and other products from mammals that can unknowingly develop after a tick bite Related Articles Letters House bill necessities advocacy in order to save lives Simone Biles details the plastic surgeries she s undergone So your insurance dropped your physician Now what Santa Clara County files suit against in-home care business for alleged wage theft As infant botulism outbreak expands ByHeart recalls all baby formula sold across US According to researchers the man who has not been identified had two extreme reactions to eating beef in the summer of after he d been bitten multiple times by lone star ticks In the first occurrence he experienced severe diarrhea vomiting and stomach pain about four hours after having a steak during a camping trip with his family Despite telling one of his sons that he thought he was going to die the effects subsided after a scarce hours so he didn t go see a specialist Two weeks later in September the man again started feeling sick about four hours after eating a hamburger at a barbeque His son ascertained him unconscious on the bathroom floor with vomit around him and called He was rushed to a hospital but died less than three hours later RELATED Tick-borne diseases skyrocket Protect yourself before it s too late The man s death was seen as a mystery because there was no evidence of a heart attack or any other life-threatening issue His wife wanting answers sought help from a pediatrician friend who eventually got in contact with the Virginia researchers The scientists analyzing a sample of postmortem blood eventually made the connection between the meat consumption and the tick bites concluding the man had experienced an allergic reaction anaphylaxis that wasn t recognized as a feasible cause of death in his autopsy The affair is notable because it is the first documented anaphylactic death related to alpha-gal syndrome where the signs started several hours after consuming mammalian meat the researchers wrote in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology stressing the major need for constituents schooling in areas where the tick is increasing There have been more than suspected cases of alpha-gal syndrome between and according to the Centers for Sickness Control Almost all cases in the U S are caused by lone star ticks which are primarily unveiled in the Northeast South and Midwest The pitfall for the illness has increased as the ticks and white-tailed deer their primary host have migrated to new areas