Tick Bites Are Causing Red-Meat Allergies. What to Know About Alpha-Gal Syndrome

Doctors in the U.S. are hearing an odd complaint from their patients more frequently: lifelong meat eaters are suddenly breaking out into hives, getting bad stomach pains, and are sometimes vomiting or having diarrhea after eating red meat.The symptoms are typical of alpha-gal syndrome, a strange tick-borne illness first identified in the 2000s that induces an allergy to a specific type of sugar found in red meat. Most mammals (but not humans) have cells that contain the sugar, so it’s found in beef, lamb, and pork—all popular protein sources in the human diet. Nearly 500,000 Americans are living with alpha-gal syndrome, according to estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University reported in 2025 that from 2013 to 2024, the number of positive tests for the alpha-gal antibody in people’s blood increased 100-fold, suggesting that more people have developed immune reactions to alpha gal, and are therefore allergic to it. In May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced several initiatives against tick-borne diseases, including new research funding for alpha-gal syndrome.Here's what to know a...