First known victim of tick-borne disease that causes meat allergy identified as devoted father of three

A New Jersey airline pilot who died after contracting a rare disease caused by a tick bite that made him allergic to red meat has been identified as father of three Brian Paul Waitzel, who was found unconscious by his teen son after eating a burger.

The 47-year-old JetBlue pilot had unknowingly contracted alpha-gal syndrome last year, and first became gravely ill after eating a steak on a family camping trip, leaving him “writhing in pain, having diarrhea and vomiting,” his wife, Pieper, told The New York Times.

Two weeks later, still unaware of his condition, Waitzel ate a burger at a barbecue. Just four hours later, his son found him on the bathroom floor in a pool of vomit. He died later that night.

Blood tests would later confirm his grim status as the first documented fatal