VIEWPOINT: We Need To Demand More Alpha-Gal Research

By Dr. Christine Olsen

Cases of Alpha Gal Syndrome (AGS) are exploding around the country, with the Hamptons as an epicenter, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were more than 3,700 suspected cases in Suffolk County in the CDC’s latest five-year report. And with this spike in tick-related illness, more and more Americans are confronting a debilitating, sometimes life threatening, food allergy: in this case, an allergy to a sugar found in red meat. Sufferers report rashes, hives, stomach upset, and in severe cases, hospitalizations from allergic reactions to offending foods. Scroll the internet and you’ll find loads of advice on how to avoid the Lonestar ticks that spark Alpha Gal and its lifelong side effects. Here’s what you won’t find: a treatment for the allergy itself. 

Welcome to our world. 

I am a radiation oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. My child has food allergies. As a parent, witnessing your child’s near-immediate vomiting, swollen throat, or skin rashes in response to a food and rushing them to an Emergency Room is terrifying. As a physician, I assumed our next course of action would be deciding which of the available treatments would be right for our child. I was wrong. Other than sticking my child with a needle – and having it on hand at all times – there were no treatments, no cures.