'If only people knew what a tick could do' - the deadly meat allergies caused by tick bites

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. 'If only people knew what a tick could do' - the deadly meat allergies caused by tick bitesImage source, Supplied: Myfanwy WebbImage caption, Jeremy Webb died of anaphylaxis triggered by tick-induced mammalian meat allergyByHelen LivingstoneReporting fromSydneyPublished14 minutes agoWhen Myfanwy Webb looks back at her birthday party five years ago, she is overcome with regret - remembering what she now sees as a missed opportunity to save her son's life. Hours after a celebratory lunch at a restaurant Jeremy began having difficulty breathing. His parents called an ambulance, and the then-15-year-old began vomiting.

At the hospital, doctors noted that Jeremy had a suspected meat allergy, but ultimately blamed the episode on his asthma, which he'd had since he was a toddler. He was sent home the next day. "I made the wrong decision," Webb says, wishing she had asked for more testing.

The Details

If she had, doctors might have established that Jeremy had actually been suffering from anaphylaxis, and sent him home with an EpiPen. ​​Just over a year later, in June 2022, Jeremy died after eating a beef sausage on a camping trip with friends at a beach north of Sydney. The cause of death was initially recorded simply as asthma.

But in February, after an inquest pushed for by his family, a coroner ruled that the asthma attack and resulting fatal anaphylaxis was triggered by tick-induced mammalian meat allergy (MMA). His death is the first in the world known to have been caused by MMA, also known as alpha-gal syndrome. Diagnosed cases of MMA have steadily escalated since 2007, when an Australian doctor first discovered the allergy was linked to tick bites.

Now, scientists and campaigners are warning that the condition, though easily prevented, can be unexpectedly triggered - and could pose a deadly threat. Image source, Supplied: Myfanwy WebbImage caption, Jeremy Webb, left, with his family, including his mother Myfanwy WebbWebb had long suspected that her son had a meat allergy, but it was never formally diagnosed and the family had no idea it could be fatal. "When I looked up the research about it, there wasn't at that time anything to suggest it was more than a food intolerance.

What Experts Say

"In retrospect, she says, it was "like a ticking time bomb. "Symptoms of the allergy can range from mild to severe including skin rashes, swelling, stomach cramps, vomiting and anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening. From around the age of 10 Jeremy had suffered nausea after eating meat, or even occasionally after inhaling the fumes from roast meat – which Webb believes may have set off the episode after her birthday party.

On another occasion he had been hospitalised after eating marshmallows, which usually contain gelatin derived from animal parts. What makes an MMA hotspot? It was Prof Sheryl van Nunen who discovered the link between MMA and ticks almost 20 years ago, after noticing a correlation in patients at her Sydney allergy clinic.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.