'If only people knew what a tick could do' - the deadly meat allergy caused by tick bites

What the report says

BBC World News reported that mammalian meat allergy, also known as alpha-gal syndrome, is an increasing concern on Australia’s east coast, where it is linked to bites from the eastern paralysis tick. The report centres on Jeremy Webb, a teenager from north of Sydney who died in June 2022 after eating a beef sausage while camping with friends. His mother, Myfanwy Webb, told the BBC the family had suspected a meat allergy but had not understood it could be fatal.

According to the BBC, Jeremy had earlier been treated in hospital after breathing difficulties and vomiting following a restaurant meal, but the episode was attributed to asthma. After an inquest sought by his family, a coroner ruled in February that a fatal anaphylactic reaction triggered by tick-induced mammalian meat allergy contributed to his death alongside an asthma attack. The BBC said his case is the first known death globally attributed to the condition.

The allergy can cause symptoms ranging from rashes, swelling and stomach pain to vomiting and life-threatening anaphylaxis, often appearing hours after exposure to mammalian meat or related products. Prof Sheryl van Nunen, who identified the connection between ticks and the allergy in Australia in 2007, told the BBC that tick bites can lead some people to develop antibodies to alpha-gal, a sugar molecule associated with the reaction.

The report said areas north of Sydney are among global hotspots, with suspected cases rising and more than 5,000 identified in Australian lab data, though researchers believe this may undercount the true scale. Experts cited by the BBC pointed to expanding settlement in tick-prone areas, wet La Niña years and greater testing as possible factors.