A woman in Maine developed a dangerous meat allergy after a black-legged tick bite—prompting the CDC to rethink which ticks can trigger alpha-gal syndrome. A decade of cases suggests the threat is broader than once believed.
Dispatch: Alpha-Gal Syndrome after Ixodes scapularis Tick Bite and Statewide Surveillance, Maine, USA, 2014–2023. Image Credit: Aleksei Ruzhin / Shutterstock
In a recent Dispatch published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC), the University of North Carolina, and other institutions reviewed a case study from Maine to establish Ixodes scapularis as a potential carrier of alpha-gal syndrome (AGS). They retrospectively…