Medical Minute: Red Meat Allergy

With the start of summer, more time outdoors can mean a higher danger of tick bites.

For Craig Smith, of Cream Ridge, New Jersey, a rare tick-borne illness has forced him to give up some of the things he loves most and take new precautions. The 62-year-old now soaks himself in bug spray when he goes out, to keep ticks away.

“I’m so used to picking them off me,” Smith says. “I’ve been living here for 40 years.” But he knew something was wrong when he started experiencing skin and gastrointestinal issues. “I would wake up in the middle of the night, my body would be covered with hives – hot and itching, very uncomfortable.”

After months of visits to different doctors, he saw an allergist after a neighbor told him about the Alpha-gal syndrome, caused by a bite from a lone star tick with a white mark. Smith found out from a blood test that he had it.

The tick feeds on the blood of a deer, pig, cow, or lamb and then introduces some of those carbohydrates to the human, causing a reaction to eating red meat. Smith says, “the allergist said you have to come back in a year and get tested again and just avoid animal products.”

For now, he is limited to eating chicken and fish, while his three meat smokers collect dust. “People don’t understand you can die from it,” he says. “You can go into anaphylactic shock and your throat closes and you can potentially pass away.”

Smith also must limit his outdoor activities including things he loves like chopping wood and gardening. His allergy is rare, but less than it used to be. Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine report cases of Alpha-gal have risen in the United States from from 24 since its discovery in 2009 to around 40,000 by last year.

Dr. Tamar Weinberger of Hackensack University Medical Center says unlike most food allergies which are lifelong, this one can go away over time. “Right now, the only treatment is avoidance of the trigger foods and they are working on a potential desensitization to the allergy,” she says.

Smith is hoping to one day put his meat smokers back to use but says for now his nutritionist is helping him make the right decisions for his health.