Put me into shock one afternoon.
Scientists have only recently begun to understand alpha-gal syndrome.
Lone star ticks, and perhaps other kinds of parasites, transmit a sugar known to scientists by its unwieldy formal name: galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal.
“We think that they have an enzyme in their saliva that can produce alpha-gal,” said Dr. Scott Commins, associate chief for allergy and immunology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who has spent his career researching alpha-gal and is a co-author on the new studies published today by the CDC.
When these ticks bite someone, the alpha-gal passes through the skin, which has its own immune sentries waiting to pounce on foreign invaders. Being exposed this way appears to put the body on high alert for this sugar, which is found in non-primate mammals and in products made from them. People with alpha-gal syndrome must often avoid red meat like beef, pork and lamb, dairy products and a slew of less-obvious products like gel capsules and sometimes makeup.
A study published Thursday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report surveyed 1,500 doctors and nurse practitioners in the US and found that 42% said they’d never heard of the allergy. Another third of respondents said they were not confident about their ability to diagnose or manage a patient with alpha-gal allergy.
Scientists have only recently begun to understand alpha-gal syndrome.
Lone star ticks, and perhaps other kinds of parasites, transmit a sugar known to scientists by its unwieldy formal name: galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal.
“We think that they have an enzyme in their saliva that can produce alpha-gal,” said Dr. Scott Commins, associate chief for allergy and immunology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who has spent his career researching alpha-gal and is a co-author on the new studies published today by the CDC.
When these ticks bite someone, the alpha-gal passes through the skin, which has its own immune sentries waiting to pounce on foreign invaders. Being exposed this way appears to put the body on high alert for this sugar, which is found in non-primate mammals and in products made from them. People with alpha-gal syndrome must often avoid red meat like beef, pork and lamb, dairy products and a slew of less-obvious products like gel capsules and sometimes makeup.
A study published Thursday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report surveyed 1,500 doctors and nurse practitioners in the US and found that 42% said they’d never heard of the allergy. Another third of respondents said they were not confident about their ability to diagnose or manage a patient with alpha-gal allergy.
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