Man believed to be first reported death linked to red meat allergy triggered by tick bites
(CNN) - A previously unexplained death of a New Jersey man has led to a medical discovery.
The 47-year-old father had collapsed and died in his home unexpectedly in 2024.
An autopsy ruled the death as unexplained.
Previous medical research that found tick bites could cause some people to develop an allergy to red meat helped find the answer to his death.
The man’s widow reached out to a doctor friend, who in turn contacted an immunologist, Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, at the University of Virginia.
Platts-Mills had made the tick bite-red meat allergy link two decades earlier.
It turns out that the New Jersey man was bitten by dozens of tiny seed ticks during a camping trip. Later, after eating at a family cookout with hamburgers, he got sick and died.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 450,000 Americans may have alpha-gal allergy, or allergy to red meat.
The New Jersey man’s case is believed to be the first documented death linked to a red meat allergy.
The research in this case is published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.
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