Wednesday, February 27, 2019 01:15 PM

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 27, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Certain tick bites[1] can cause a red meat allergy[2], and now scientists are shedding new light on the condition, known as alpha-gal syndrome.

Alpha-gal is a sugar found in most mammal blood, but not in humans.

"Our original hypothesis was that humans developed the allergy[3] after being exposed to alpha-gal through a tick that had fed on a deer, dog or other small mammal that has alpha-gal," said researcher Scott Commins.

When people develop an allergic immune response to alpha-gal, it can lead to a red meat allergy, explained Commins, who is an associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

"This new data suggests that ticks[4] can induce this immune response without requiring the mammal blood meal, which likely means the risk of each bite ...