NJ man is first confirmed death from new tickborne meat allergy

🍔 New Jersey pilot becomes first confirmed fatality from alpha-gal syndrome

🍔 The man collapsed and died just hours after eating a hamburger

🍔 Lone star ticks are spreading, with established populations in 12 counties

A pilot from New Jersey is the first confirmed death from a disturbing new meat allergy spread by the lone star tick, according to a study.

It explains why the 47-year-old man died on his bathroom floor just hours after consuming a hamburger in September 2024, according to University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers.

First documented fatality from alpha-gal syndrome in the U.S.

The report was published on Wednesday in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

According to the report, the man had no significant past medical history that would explain his death.

Several details, including the victim's name and where he lived in New Jersey, were not released in the study. It's only been publicly released that his family lived in the suburbs.

Early warning signs appeared after a family camping trip

In the summer of 2024, the victim went on a camping trip with his wife and children.

The report says around 10 p.m. that night, they ate beef steak for dinner. He woke up four hours later with abdominal discomfort; the report describes him "writhing in pain" and having severe diarrhea and vomiting.

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However, he recovered by the morning and was able to go on a five-mile walk.

“I thought I was going to die," the man told one of his sons. But they never followed up with a doctor.

Fatal reaction followed second exposure to red meat

Two weeks later, the man went with his wife to a barbecue. They ate hamburgers around 3 p.m. and went home.

He mowed the lawn, and nothing unusual was going on when his wife left the home at 7 p.m.

However, at 7:30 p.m., she got a call from their son saying, "Dad is getting sick again." The man had gone into the bathroom just minutes earlier.

Their son then found the man unconscious on the bathroom floor. He was surrounded by vomit.

The son called 911 at 7:37 p.m. and tried to resuscitate his dad. Paramedics also tried for another two hours, but the man was declared dead at 10:22 p.m. at the hospital.

An initial autopsy called it a "sudden unexplained death.” However, his wife wasn't satisfied and contacted the UVA researchers.

She sent blood samples to their lab, which revealed the man had suffered an anaphylactic reaction to the beef because he had alpha-gal syndrome.

The study says it's the first documented fatal case of AGS.

Lone star ticks expanding across New Jersey

Anyone who contracts the tickborne disease develops a severe allergy to red meat, including beef, pork, lamb, venison, and rabbit. It's possible that issues with dairy could arise as well.

More than 110,000 suspected cases of AGS have been identified as of 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, it's not mandatory to report cases of the disease to the CDC; it's believed that around 450,000 people could have it.

The man's wife reported that he had been bitten by around a dozen "chiggers" on his ankles. However, the report said these mite bites are often misidentified and are actually lone star tick larvae bites.

Along with the lone star tick, AGS can also be spread by the blacklegged tick and the western blacklegged tick. However, not everyone who is bitten by these ticks will develop the allergy.

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Twelve NJ counties now have established lone star tick populations

In New Jersey, there are established lone star tick populations in 12 of the state's 21 counties. And sightings have been reported in another six counties.

According to the CDC, a county has an established population if at least six ticks, or more than one life stage of the tick, have been collected there within a year.

New Jersey counties with established populations include:

🚨 Atlantic County
🚨 Burlington County
🚨 Camden County
🚨 Cape May County
🚨 Cumberland County
🚨 Gloucester County
🚨 Mercer County
🚨 Middlesex County
🚨 Monmouth County
🚨 Ocean County
🚨 Salem County
🚨 Somerset County

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