![]() They can be as mild as a tingling in the mouth or as extreme as anaphylactic shock. The resulting allergic reactions, which typically begin two to six hours after ingesting alpha-gal, vary from person to person. “Eating mammalian meat subsequently pulls the trigger.” The next time those cells come into contact with alpha-gal from any source, including meat, the antibodies recognize it, and the immune system attacks it.įorming IgE “can be thought of as loading the gun,” explains Scott Commins, associate chief for allergy and immunology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and a leading AGS researcher. IgE antibodies attach to disease-fighting white blood cells called basophils in the bloodstream and mast cells in tissues. But when a tick bite introduces the molecule, the immune system recognizes it as an invader and produces antibodies known as immunoglobulin E (IgE) tailored against it. Normally, when a person eats meat from nonprimate mammals, such as cows and pigs, their body does not react to alpha-gal. The spread is prompting researchers to consider the potential long-term complications of AGS and to further verify the cause of the allergy using genetically modified meat. Now the ticks are being found in New Jersey and New York State’s Long Island, with sporadic reports farther north along the Eastern Seaboard and in parts of the Midwest. They transmit the alpha-gal molecule from mammals they’ve fed on to people they bite. Named for the white dot on the back of adult females, the ticks are historically located in the south central and southeastern U.S. When she returned to her doctor’s office, a nurse practitioner asked, “Do you remember having a tick bite?” This led to another blood test that revealed antibodies associated with alpha-gal, a sugar found in the meat and fat of nonprimate mammals.Īlpha-gal syndrome (AGS) is an allergic reaction that can arise after someone is bitten by a lone star tick. In February 2021 she suddenly found a strange rash on her face an urgent-care facility doctor treated her for shingles, but the rash didn’t get better. Then Carlson started having eye infections. Her doctor ruled out rheumatoid arthritis, and a blood test didn’t turn up anything definitive. ![]() ![]() But back home in Mississippi a month later, Carlson complained to her doctor of aching joints and a bloated feeling in her stomach. Kristina Carlson didn’t think much about the tick she pulled off her torso while she was hiking in the mountains of North Carolina in September 2020.
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