Podcasts

About alpha-gal syndrome (AGS)

Ep. 222: Could It Be Alpha-Gal Syndrome? with Dr. Scott Commins (2025)

Alpha-Gal Syndrome has been making headlines over the last few years, but do you know that a simple bite from certain ticks or chiggers can trigger an allergy to meat and other products made from mammals? We’re exploring this mysterious condition with Alpha-Gal expert and board-certified allergist, Dr. Scott Commins. Challenging to diagnose and even more challenging to manage, welcome to Part Two of a two-part series about Alpha-Gal Syndrome.

Alpha-gal syndrome creates nasty reaction to red meat (2024)

Certain tick bites are believed to trigger a bad reaction to red meat, explains Jamie Romeiser, PhD, an Upstate public health researcher. Romeiser, who has experienced the reaction herself, explains what is called the alpha-gal syndrome, named after a carbohydrate molecule, and how the bite of a lone star tick sets the process in motion. She is an assistant professor of public health and preventive medicine at Upstate.

What Should Clinicians Know About Alpha Gal Syndrome (Red Meat Allergy) and Tick Bites? (2024)

Certain tick bites are believed to trigger a Ever since the CDC released its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report about alpha-Gal syndrome (AGS) last summer, it seems that everyone is talking about this odd allergy to red meat. Whether you’re an allergist or a primary care clinician, get the clinical facts about AGS in this episode of ImmunoCAST where we explore the syndrome’s origins and discovery, what potential foods (some perhaps lesser known) and medical products may cause reactions, and the most effective way to diagnose and treat patients.

Clinical Practice Update: Alpha-gal syndrome for the GI clinician

This special episode of Inside Scope shares key insights from the AGA Clinical Practice Update on Alpha-Gal Syndrome for the GI Clinician.

This episode is hosted by Dr. Jana Al Hashash, chair-elect of the AGA Clinical Practice Update Committee and one of the CPU authors.

Guests:

Dr. Sarah McGill, gastroenterologist
Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, a pioneer in discovery of alpha-gal syndrome
Dr. Hannah Dodson, nurse Practitioner and patient

To access the full Clinical Practice Update, visit https://www.gastro.org/CPU

NPR: CDC warns about red meat allergy caused by some tick bites (2023)

The CDC says a tick-borne illness that causes a red-meat allergy is an emerging public health concern. There have been more than 90,000 suspected cases between 2017 and 2022. But nearly half of clinicians have never heard of the condition. That’s according to a pair of CDC reports released today. NPR’s Allison Aubrey explains the allergy and how to treat it.

</p> <p>

The People’s Pharmacy: Managing Meat Allergy and Other Tick-Borne Diseases (2023)

If you are like us, you welcome the first warm days of the season with joy. And then you start to fret. How can you avoid tick bites? Many people recognize Lyme disease as a serious health threat from deer tick bites. However, fewer are aware that a bite from a completely different tick, the […]

This week’s guests: Scott P. Commins, MD, PhD. and Sarah McGill, MD

Alpha Gal Syndrome (2021)

You find a tick on your skin and remove it. The next day you eat a sausage and wind up in the emergency room in anaphylaxis. After that, you can’t eat beef or pork without experiencing an intense allergic reaction. This is alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy induced by the saliva of ticks bearing a simple oligosaccharide (compound sugar), and the body mounts an immune response against it. The same oligosaccharide is also found in beef and pork. This strange condition is becoming increasingly more common. Dr. Jeffery Wilson is a physician at the University of Virginia who studies alpha-gal syndrome. We discuss this strange disorder, and consider strategies to solve it that will be discussed in the next episode.

Guest: Jeffrey Wilson, MD, PhD

Radiolab: Alpha Gal (2016)

Tuck your napkin under your chin. We’re about to serve up a tale of love, loss, and lamb chops. For as long as she can remember, Amy Pearl has loved meat in all its glorious cuts and marbled flavors. And then one day, for seemingly no reason, her body wouldn’t tolerate it. No steaks. No brisket. No weenies. It made no sense to her or to her doctor: why couldn’t she eat something that she had routinely enjoyed for decades? Something our evolutionary forebears have eaten since time immemorial? The answer involves mysterious maps, interpretive dance, and a collision of three different species.