If you love your burgers, you might want to know a tick that can cause an allergy to red meat may be on its way to the greater Cortland area.
Lone star ticks, which have been found in downstate areas including Suffolk County, may start moving into Central New York as time goes on, said Laura Harrington, professor of entomology at Cornell University.
The ticks can cause alpha-gal syndrome — an allergic reaction to red meat. And in some cases, dairy, gelatin and certain medications. Alpha-gal, a sugar, is found in the flesh of mammals like cows, pigs and rabbits.
“We are concerned because we are seeing expanding ranges of LST (lone star tick) in southern New York, including Long Island, where LST is found nearly everywhere now,” Harrington said in an email Thursday. “LSTs are abundant in New York City parks and populations have been detected recently in some areas of the Hudson River Valley in New York state.”
Suffolk County has the most positive test results of any county in America, said Gilbert Kersh, chief of the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“That’s a region that has a large number of lone star ticks, but also, we think there’s more awareness in that area, so people are getting diagnosed in a more timely manner there,” Kersh told Scientific American.
More than 110,000 people in the U.S. tested positive for alpha-gal antibodies from 2010 to 2022, reports the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Alpha-gal is not a reportable syndrome nationally or in the state, so it’s difficult to understand the pattern of exposure or human risk, Harrington said.
“The science behind alpha-gal is still emerging,” Harrington said. “Tick bites are not the only risk factor for this syndrome, but increases in alpha-gal have been associated with LST bites, so there is a lot that we still don’t understand. However, most people who are bitten by LST do not develop alpha-gal meat allergies.”
A 2022 CDC study found that as many as 450,000 Americans may have alpha-gal syndrome.
The reactions look like traditional food allergy symptoms and can range from itchiness and hives to anaphylactic shock, said Dr. Matthew Norris, an allergist with Guthrie Medical Group.
“Unlike traditional allergies that we think of, such as for peanuts or tree nuts, these reactions occur anywhere from three to eight hours after eating the red meat,” Norris said.
Treatment is similar to other allergies — stopping consumption and epinephrine. However, Norris said experts don’t yet know whether someone can grow out of the allergy.
“This is something that we just discovered in the medical literature in the late 2000s,” Norris said. “Most of what we’re doing now is learning more about what this is and how it occurs.”
Though the ticks may be on the way, Harrington said to not panic and still enjoy the outdoors.
“Knowledge and awareness of tick habitats and personal protection is key,” Harrington said. “Remember that not all ticks transmit disease and not all ticks are infected with pathogens, although approximately 30% of adult BLTs (blacklegged ticks) in our Central New York region are infected with Lyme bacteria.”
