Increase in tickborne disease Alpha-Gal found on Martha's Vineyard
MARTHA'S VINEYARD - A once-rare tickborne disease is spreading steadily on Martha's Vineyard.
Increase in Alpha-Gal
The Martha's Vineyard hospital is seeing a steady increase of Lone Star tick bites. And more of those patients are being diagnosed with Alpha-Gal Syndrome, which makes some of them allergic to meat. In 2020, two people tested positive for the condition. This year, 150 people have tested positive on Martha's Vineyard.
With a white mark on its back, the Lone Star tick has been making it's way from the southeast to warmer parts of Massachusetts - that means costal regions, including Martha's Vineyard.
How does Alpha-Gal work?
When Lone Star ticks bite certain animals, they can acquire the Alpha-Gal sugar molecule. Alpha-Gal is also in red meat, so if a Lone Star tick bites a victim and transfers that molecule, the victim them produces an IGE antibody - the same antibody responsible for allergic reactions. Hence, that person forms an allergy to red meat, including pork, beef and venison.
"It could be lips swelling, it could be trouble swallowing, it could be abdominal symptoms - nausea and vomiting," said Dr. Aleena Banerji, the clinical director at Massachusetts General Hospital's Immunology Unit.
However, the allergy doesn't develop in every person bitten by a Lone Star tick. And the allergy can be hard to detect because the reaction may take two to six hours to develop.
The allergy can also make people allergic to certain cancer medications.
