Tickborne red meat allergy alpha-gal appears to be on the rise

Conversations about a “red meat allergy” have regularly popped up on social media or in news articles in Missouri throughout the last few years.

As it turns out, this is a real concern in Missouri that comes from the bite of a lone star tick, one of the most common species of ticks found in the state.

Dr. Molly Baker is the lead zoonotic epidemiologist at the Missouri Department of Health and Human Service’s Bureau of Communicable Disease Control & Prevention. That means she studies how diseases, viruses, parasites and other pathogens can be transmitted from animals to humans.

“Unfortunately, we have lots of reasons in Missouri to be worried about tick bites,” Baker said. “Zoonotic disease is, you know, a lot of them are new and emerging, and 75% of them are linked to animal or insect