A 62-year-old man from New Jersey has developed an incurable meat allergy after being bitten by a tick, which left him unable to eat steak, burgers and pulled pork.
Craig Smith, from Cream Ridge, suffers from alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), where the immune system misfires and attacks molecules found in mammal meat.
Doctors say a bite from a tick whose saliva contained these molecules, likely picked up from its last meal, caused the condition.
There is no cure which means that Mr Smith — a self-declared carnivore — had no choice but to adjust his diet, swapping out his favorite meats for chicken, fish and vegetables.
Doctors say the condition should ease within a year, but more than 12 months after his diagnosis, it shows no signs of letting up.
The disease is caused by alpha-gal sugar, which can be carried by the lone star tick (pictured above). It picks up the sugar after sucking blood from animals
Health officials say people who have the condition can suffer rashes that break out across their bodies, as shown above. Mr Smith said he also suffered from these rashes
The lone star tick, which is named for the tiny white spot on its back, may look harmless and only causes a small little prick on your skin – but what follows next is a complete and potentially life-long aversion to meat.
The former laborer and union worker first learned something was wrong in the spring of last year.
He woke up in the middle of the night to find angry red rashes spreading across his arms, legs and back — some larger than dinner plates.
The patches were raised and sensitive, intensely itchy and also hot to the touch.
‘You’re itching all over,’ he told local publication NJ.com. ‘You’re like: What the heck is going on?’
The next day he went to a doctor and an allergist, but neither could diagnose his condition.
He was given a course of steroids to reduce the rashes, which worked, but as soon as the prescription ended, they came roaring back with a vengeance.
This was when a doctor suggested he may have alpha-gal syndrome.
Medics explained this is normally caused by bites from a lone star tick — identified by the white spot on its back — a type that is spreading further north as temperatures continue to rise.
Mr Smith said he didn’t remember any recent tick bites but could have got a nip around January and February while he was helping his daughter take down a tree.
The ex-laborer went for a battery of blood tests to confirm the diagnosis, which checked whether he had any alpha-gal fighting antibodies. They came back positive.
Doctors then quickly switched his diet to leave out all mammal meats — beef, pork and lamb — but also dairy products — like milk and cheese — which can contain the molecule.
Mr Smith said the change sent him into a deep depression and triggered regular arguments between himself and his wife Liz, 66, who he has been with for more than four decades.
‘Basically, I was a carnivore,’ he told the local newspaper, ‘and that put me in such a narrow food lane’.
‘You get so frustrated. Food becomes an enemy to you. I was totally devastated.’
But after the initial difficulty, Mr Smith said he has now adjusted to the new diet.
Ticks can pick up the alpha-gal protein from mammals — such as deer and cows — when they feed off their blood.
This can then be stored in their saliva and injected into human victims when they are also bitten.
For humans, the immune system may mistake alpha-gal as a threat from the tick and start to build antibodies against it.
That means that in the future, whenever the body is exposed to alpha-gal from meat, it triggers an immune response — or allergic reaction.
Alpha-gal syndrome cases in the US have risen in recent years amid warming temperatures allowing ticks to range further north and be active for longer.
Experts say there were only a few dozen cases in the US in 2009, but current estimates suggest that upwards of 34,000 people have been diagnosed.
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