Man With Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Dies after Eating Burger

Man with tick-borne meat allergy dies after eating hamburger

By Claire Cameron edited by Tanya Lewis

Scientists have confirmed the first death linked to a severe meat allergy caused by a tick bite. The man, who died in 2024 after eating a hamburger, suffered from alpha-gal syndrome, an illness triggered by tick bites that causes anaphylactic reactions to red meat and other animal products.

This man’s case was detailed in an article published this week in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. According to researchers, the man started vomiting a few hours after eating a hamburger at a barbecue in New Jersey.

Two weeks before his death, the man had an allergic reaction to a steak. “The tragedy is that they did not consider this episode to be anaphylaxis and therefore did not link it to beef at the time,” said study co-author Thomas Platts-Mills, an allergist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine who helped discover alpha-gal syndrome and diagnose the New Jersey case, in an interview with NBC News.

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Alpha-gal syndrome causes allergic reactions to a sugar molecule found in meat. However, unlike other food allergies, the reaction is often delayed: people may feel sick hours after eating meat and symptoms may be mistaken for food poisoning. It is most commonly caused by a lone star tick bite, although bites from other ticks can cause the syndrome.

Scientists suspect that many people with alpha-gal syndrome don’t know they have it. In this man’s case, it took scientists months to determine that he suffered from the syndrome and died from it. And due to warming winters, tick bites are becoming more and more common throughout the year.

People who suspect they might have the syndrome can get tested to confirm it. Although there is no cure for alpha-gal, scientists recommend that sufferers avoid all meat products, as well as dairy products, gelatin, and some medications made with them.

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