US doctors are told to look for emerging, potentially life threatening allergic tickborne disease

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has told US doctors to be alert for a little known tickborne allergic disease that may affect nearly half a million Americans.Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) is “an emerging and potentially life threatening allergic condition, also known as red meat allergy or tick bite meat allergy,” the agency said in a press notice and two papers in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).123There is growing evidence that the syndrome is triggered by a bite from Ambylomma Americanum, known as the lone star tick, that is common in a wide area of the southern, midwestern, and mid-Atlantic regions of the US, although other ticks may be involved.Many doctors are unfamiliar with the syndrome and are not confident in their ability to diagnose it, CDC said. There is no treatment or cure, and there is no national surveillance programme.“It’s critical for clinicians to be aware of…
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