How can a tick bite cause a life-threatening meat allergy? An expert explains.

An Australian teenager who died after eating beef gravy on a camping trip has been confirmed dead. The first death Allergy to tick-borne meat.

New South Wales Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes ruled today that Jeremy Webb died in 2022 from an anaphylactic response, triggered by an asthma attack.

After a fatal case of a person in 2024, this young man is simply the second person on the earth to die from a “mammal meat allergy”. The United States.

Here’s what you could find out about how tick bites may cause meat allergies.

How can ticks cause this?

In Australiait is principally the bite of the eastern paralysis tick () that causes allergy to mammalian meat.

Tick ​​saliva naturally incorporates a sugar molecule called alpha-gal, abbreviated as galactose-α-1,3-galactose, a sugar not normally present in humans.

So when a tick bites, alpha-gal enters the bloodstream and in some people signals the body to supply molecules related to an allergic response (generally known as IgE antibodies). So their bodies are “primed” for an allergic response, but not immediately.

But when an individual later eats foods containing alpha-gal — meat, gelatin-containing products similar to lollies, or certain medications — it could actually trigger an allergic response. Hours later.

It can range from hives, intestinal symptoms (similar to pain and diarrhea) to a severe anaphylactic response that affects the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

Who is in danger? Are cases increasing?

Although this latest Australian case involves a teenager, allergy to mammal meat is more common in older age groups.

In research that colleagues and I actually have just concluded and can soon submit for publication, we found that allergy to mammal meat is peaking in Australians aged 45-75 years.

Women are at higher risk, accounting for about 60% of cases, but we do not know why.

Our evaluation of 11 years of knowledge as much as 2025 also shows that the variety of annual cases remained relatively stable until 2020, but increased rapidly thereafter, averaging 22% year-on-year.

By 2024, we saw 787 people nationwide testing positive for alpha-Gil antibodies.

But most (we estimate about 90%) of this increase is because of greater awareness and more testing for allergies to mammal meat.

Only 10% is because of an actual increase in disease prevalence. We do not know exactly why this is going on. But hypotheses include a run of milder summers/wetter winters resulting in higher tick populations, or greater risk of ticks when people move to bush or urban fringes.

In our study we checked out cases from every state and territory, although 96% of cases occurred in local areas along the East Coast.

What was notable, nonetheless, was the acute geographic clustering of cases in specific high-risk areas.

The variety of cases was disproportionately high in south-east Queensland and the inside of northern NSW, the northern coastal region of Sydney, and particularly the southern coast of NSW.

Not just allergies.

Exposure to alpha gall could have other effects besides triggering allergic reactions from eating meat.

We are within the midst of 1. Groups of researchers discovery Possible links with cardiovascular (heart) disease.

We are working with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood to investigate blood from 5,000 donors, including those from high-risk communities. We wish to see if exposure to alpha gall from tick bites can put some people at greater risk of heart disease later in life.

The hypothesis is that alpha gall allergen exposure occurs. Low-level inflammation of plaques related to coronary artery disease.

But we have not began analyzing these samples yet, so it’s still early days.

Prevention is best.

There is not any cure for mammal meat allergy. So Prevention of tick bites The best is:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when walking or working in places where there are ticks.

• Tuck pants into long socks

• Wear a wide-brimmed hat.

• Wear light coloured clothes.

• Use insect repellent, especially those with DEET.

And if you happen to get bitten by a tick, don’t use household tweezers to remove it. Use the methods described. Instead in this video.