The first known death from the tick-borne meat allergy Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS) has been reported this month in New Jersey. In September 2024, a 47-year-old airline pilot returned home after an afternoon barbecue, and despite feeling well enough to mow the lawn and read a newspaper, he began to suffer severe abdominal distress and was found dead by his son in the family’s bathroom later that evening.
The man had no history of other health conditions, and medical examiners could not determine the cause of death, listing it as “unexplained” on the man’s autopsy report. By chance, the man’s wife discussed the details of the tragedy with doctor and researcher Erin McFeely. Based on the facts of the case, McFeely suspected that an allergic reaction may have been the cause of death, and she contacted her colleague Thomas Platts-Mills, the University of Virginia allergist who discovered the link between AGS and Lone Star tick bites in 2002.
Platts-Mills called for analysis of a blood sample from the deceased pilot and discovered an extremely high level of the enzyme tryptase, evidence of severe anaphylactic shock. He told NBC News, “The level he had is basically only seen in fatal cases of anaphylaxis. His level was 2,000. The highest level I’ve seen in practice of a person who survived is 100.”
The same analysis also discovered the presence of antibodies to the alpha-gal carbohydrate, providing further evidence that the tick-borne illness was the cause of death, likely brought on by a hamburger the man had eaten at the barbecue that day. The man’s family confirmed that he had suffered from a similar adverse reaction to eating a steak two weeks before the fatal incident.
Probing further for the cause of the infection, researchers discovered that in the summer of 2023, the man had suffered welts on his ankles, which the family had attributed to chigger bites but were more likely to be bites from Lone Star tick larvae.
In the study published on the case in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, McFeely and Platts-Mills emphasized how few doctors know what AGS even is: according to the CDC, 42% had never heard of AGS, and another 35% didn’t have confidence that they could diagnose it or treat people suffering from the condition.
This creates a real danger of people being infected without knowing it. Referring to the New Jersey case, Platts-Mills said, quote, “The tragedy is that [doctors] didn’t think of that episode as anaphylaxis, and therefore didn’t connect it to the beef at the time.”
The implications for hunters are clear. First, we are more likely than anyone to be in areas with ticks and to be hands-on with their most common host, the white-tailed deer. We also have a lot to lose if we can’t eat red meat anymore.
That means you should be applying the tick repellent permethrin to all your hunting clothing and boots, and always have a loved one–or at least someone who’s okay seeing you in your birthday suit–conduct a tick check on you when you return from the field.
News like this should also prompt hunters in cities to seek out opportunities in suburban and semi-rural places where deer populations are overwhelming local residents. One source cited by the University of Virginia study called deer in New Jersey an “unsustainable statewide emergency.”
If you live in an apartment in New York City, DC, Atlanta, Houston, or any other part of the country without a ton of public land nearby, conquer your shyness and call up your aunt who lives in a nearby subdivision. Find out if she or her friends are tired of having their landscaping eaten to the ground. It might not be as sexy as chasing Dall sheep in Alaska, but there are a lot of animals right next door to you, people are having a tough time dealing with them, and you could establish some relationships that fill your freezer for years to come.
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