Quantifying the allergenic potency of mammalian meat sources, an important step in providing a framework for improved management of mammalian meat allergy after tick bite (alpha-gal syndrome/AGS)

Clinical Associate Professor Sheryl van Nunen OAM discusses “The association of mammalian meat allergy with tick bites has now been reported on all six continents where humans are tick bitten, in over 33 countries, after bites from several tick species. Intriguingly, this 20th century pandemic of allergy appears to have originated in a pandemic of infectious disease occurring 28 million years or so ago, when our ancestors likely survived because they had inactivated the gene for alpha-galactosyltransferase. When alpha-gal is injected by the tick into a human host, it bypasses dendritic cell processing, thereby committing our immune system to making antibody responses, including specific IgE.”

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