What is behind the spread of a mysterious allergy to meat?

[Murph]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/dec/11/mysterious-allergy-to-meat-alpha-gal-lone-star-tick

Fascinating story but I liked this part he most:

The discovery of new diseases often follows a pattern. Scattered patients realise they are experiencing strange symptoms. They find each other, face to face in a neighbourhood or across the world on the internet. They bring their experience to medicine, and medicine is sceptical. And then, after a period of pain and recalcitrance, medicine admits that, in fact, the patients were right.

That is the story of the discovery of CFS/ME and Lyme disease, among others. But it is not the story of alpha-gal allergy. An odd set of coincidences brought this bizarre illness to the attention of researchers almost as soon as it occurred.

 

[Timaca]

Thanks for posting this. I have heard of and been aware of the tick borne meat allergy for years, but this article let me know that it can go beyond meat for some people (eg manure in gardens, gelatin capsules, etc). I will save this article for future reference!

 

[vision blue]

I had spoke to my new allergist about this because of my delayed allergic reaction not just to milk but milk from every single animal species and every form of dairy. I don't remember who brought up the alpha gal antibody first but she said she had one patient with it who did not get better after eliminating all meat and was getting anaplyaxix in the middle of the night. She then also went of dairy - also an animal product - and then the reactions went away. I tested negative for the alpha gal ige but i tested negative for every single ige, even those i was sure I had.

 

[rel8ted]

We have a family friend that has had this issue for several years. He traveled for work at the time and almost blacked out on the road. People in this area are not big on docs, and he thought it was "his imagination" until he heard about the UVA docs doing a study on it and then he realized it was time to do something. He started reacting to beef, and eventually other mammals. Could not convince him he could die from it until he heard it on the radio. Somehow he convinced himself that he had high blood pressure and was trying to control that with diet.
It is now standard at the allergists in our area to be tested for alpha gal.