A 47-year-old man in the United States is the first person known to have died from alpha-gal syndrome, a severe red meat allergic reaction linked to a tick-borne illness, NBC News reported.
The man, who died in 2024, had a known allergy to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal), a sugar found in red meat. A tick bite triggered it after he ate a burger containing beef, which led to anaphylaxis and killed him.
He started to vomit hours after having a burger at a barbecue in New Jersey. The case emerged as a mystery as there were no signs of a heart attack or other life-threatening issues.
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A team of researchers at UVAHealth in Virginia studied his case and last week published the findings in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.
"We report here the first documented fatal case of AGS occurring after consuming mammalian meat," the authors write in the research.
"The postmortem examination showed no significant abnormalities in the cardiac, respiratory, neurological, or abdominal systems, including on microscopic examination of the heart, right lung, and liver, as well as on cardiac pathology examination."
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To know the exact reason, his wife asked her friend, Dr Erin McFeely, who then contacted the researchers to review the autopsy report and address the possible role of AGS.
Toxicology revealed blood ethanol of 0.049% and a diphenhydramine level of 440 ng/mL. The conclusion of the autopsy was "Sudden unexplained death."
"The tragedy is that they didn't think of that episode as anaphylaxis, and therefore didn't connect it to the beef at the time," Dr Thomas Platts-Mills, an allergist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine who discovered alpha-gal syndrome and diagnosed the New Jersey man's case, said as quoted by NBC News.
Notably, there is no cure for alpha-gal, but someone who suspects they may have it can get tested. The scientists recommend that people with the condition avoid all meat products.
