Man’s death linked to meat allergy disease caused by tick bite

A man who died in September 2024 passed away because of a disease contracted through a tick bite.

While his death was more than a year ago, researchers recently determined he died from alpha-gal syndrome or AGS, CBS News reported.

AGS can be caused when a person is bitten by a Lone Star Tick. The disease causes a sensitivity or allergy to alpha-gel, which is found in red meat and dairy products and can result in hives, nausea, stomach pain, breathing issues and swelling, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The man, who was 47 and from New Jersey, was camping with his wife and children and had beefsteak for dinner. Four hours after eating the meat, he had severe abdominal discomfort, diarrhea and vomiting for about two hours, researchers at the University of Virginia said.

He felt OK the next morning but had told his wife, “I thought I was going to die.” Despite allegedly telling her that, he did not see a doctor about the symptoms.

Two weeks later, the man had a hamburger and four hours later, was found passed out on a bathroom floor with vomit near him. He was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead several hours after being found.

His death was ruled a “sudden unexplained death.” He had been considered healthy before his death, ABC News reported.

His wife, however, asked a friend who worked in medicine to review his autopsy, who contacted researchers for a possible link with AGS.

The man’s blood was tested this year and it was found that he had an allergic reaction to alpha-gal and had fatal anaphylaxis.

The wife said that he had been bitten by bugs earlier in the summer. She had said he had about a dozen “chigger” bites. Chiggers are frequently Lone Star tick larvae, ABC News reported.

Researchers said the man’s death is "the first documented anaphylactic death related to AGS where the symptoms started several hours after consuming mammalian meat.”

University of Virginia’s Dr. Thomas Platt-Mills said in a news release, “The important information for the public is: First, that severe abdominal pain occurring 3 to 5 hours after eating beef, pork or lamb should be investigated as a possible episode of anaphylaxis; and, second, that tick bites that itch for more than a week or larvae of ticks often called ‘chiggers’ can induce or increase sensitization to mammalian-derived meat.”