Meat Allergy After Tick Bite May Explain Severe Allergic Reactions

Article Source: Reuters Meat allergies related to tick bites might be at the root of some unexplained severe, life-threatening allergic reactions, a new study suggests. Researchers poring through records from a Tennessee clinic found that a large percentage of anaphylactic shock cases were sparked by an allergy to alpha-gal, a complex sugar found in red meat, according to a report in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Even so, anaphylaxis due to alpha-gal is still pretty rare, said study coauthor Dr. Jay Lieberman of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. “I don’t want this to lead to hysteria,” said, Lieberman who is also vice chair of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Food Allergy Committee. “The vast majority of people with a history of tick bites are not going to develop this