A 47-year-old New Jersey man has become the first confirmed fatality from a severe case of “meat allergy” spread by ticks , researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine announced Thursday.

The man, an airline pilot whose name was not released, went camping with family in the summer of 2024, according to the findings published in the Journal of Allergy and Immunology .

After a day outdoors, he ate a steak dinner and went to bed. He woke up hours later with severe abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting, the researchers said.

He recovered, but was unaware the reaction was caused by the meat allergy known as Alpha-gal syndrome.

He died two weeks later, just hours after eating a hamburger while at a barbecue, according to the research findings.

The cause of his death r

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