Thanks to an incident that happened to a 56-year-old farmer living in Kansas City, Missouri, USA 7 years ago, it turned out that it was possible for people to develop an allergy to red meat, although they did not exist before.
Noticing rashes on his waist and arms hours after eating a hamburger, the unfortunate man did not at first understand why; As a result, it is not easy to distinguish the symptoms of the aforementioned allergy, namely Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), from a simple tick bite. The hives and rashes did not appear each time a meat-containing meal was eaten, or they could occur several times in a week and were rarely even accompanied by shortness of breath. The man, who has a very complex disease history due to seasonal allergies and HIV, which he contracted at the age of 21, had not been able to be definitively identified, although he had seen many doctors for his symptoms for years. Until now.
About 3 percent of people living in parts of the United States show symptoms of AGS
Many solutions were offered to the man who had to go to the doctor for years because of his complaints. He changed the detergent with which he washed his clothes and bought new clothes; but these measures did not work. The possibility of a food allergy was removed from the list at the very beginning of the doctor’s visits; because unlike what happened to the man, when you’re allergic to a food, you show symptoms within minutes of eating the food, not hours. On the other hand, what happened to this man is not unheard of before. About 3 percent of the population in parts of the United States is reported to have symptoms of the type associated with AGS; however, less is known about its prevalence. Undoubtedly, researchers have been conducting detailed studies for a disease that spans throughout human history, only for the last 20 years.
In 2002, allergy researcher Thomas Platts-Mills, who noted allergic reactions in cancer patients treated with the cancer drug cetuximab, encountered people who claimed to have had an allergic reaction to certain meats and meat products; however, at that time he had not been able to establish any connection between the two. With the passing years, the cases of serious cetuximab reactions continued to increase in the USA. Finally, in 2008, Platts-Mills determined that the root cause of the problem was an IgE antibody response to a carbohydrate called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal syndrome for short. alpha-gal, a sugar found in a wide variety of animals, though not found in humans; was somehow transferred from transgenic mice used to obtain chemotherapy treatment. Considering that allergies are usually caused by the body reacting to a protein that it doesn’t recognize, it was quite unusual to encounter a carbohydrate that could trigger an allergic response.
Even if this mystery has been solved, how patients develop this sensitivity has not been resolved in the first place; however, there were several claims as to why this might happen. One of these claims was a pattern of cases that suspiciously overlapped with cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a disease carried by the American tick (Amblyomma americanum). The second was a chance encounter with a hunter who had severe allergic reactions after eating beef. Platts-Mills, who was already suspicious, asked the man about tick bites, and with the answer he got, he slowly began to understand the inside of the situation. However, what ultimately convinced the researcher was his personal experience with the disease. Reluctantly trying to test her suspicions, Platts-Mills went for a hike in the mountains near her home and was bitten by a tick herself. Later that year, lamb chops at Platts-Mills caused a very familiar allergic reaction.
More research is needed to better understand AGS
Today, scientists are confident that it is alpha-gal that attaches to proteins in tick saliva that sensitizes people to the carbohydrates found in meats like lamb and beef. Because cooking fails to destroy it, our body overreacts when alpha-gal enters our body. If we come to the farmer whose case was announced a short time ago; After a long search, he finally found doctors who understood what the situation was. Seven years after symptoms first appeared, a friend told him about AGS. The patient then fairly quickly made contact with the ticks, which by nature are a common danger to his job. Following this, the farmer who removed red meat from his diet did not show any allergic reactions due to alpha-gala for 8 years.
On the other hand, we seem to have a lot to learn about the prevalence of AGS, a relatively new disease according to research, and its interactions with other diseases and treatments, such as potential reactions to drugs and their components.
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