Photo Credit: Peter Schreiber Media
The following is a summary of “Alpha-Gal IgE Prevalence Patterns in the United States: An Investigation of 3,000 Military Recruits,” published in the January 2024 issue of Allergy & Immunology by Ailsworth et al.
An important reason people are allergic to meat from mammals is IgE to the oligosaccharide galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal). The “alpha-gal syndrome” is strongly linked to being bitten by a tick. It is most common in the US in parts of the southeast, but more research needs to be done on national trends of alpha-gal sensitivity and the role of other risk factors. For a study, researchers sought to carefully look into how common alpha-gal IgE is, how it varies by area, and what factors put people at risk.
ImmunoCAP measured alpha-gal IgE in biobanked serum samples from 3,000 service members who went to one of 10 military sites in the central and eastern US to be screened. Alpha-gal IgE sensitivity (cutoff 0.1 international units/mL) was linked to the address given at enrollment. 2456 (81.9%) of the patients were men, the median age was 19 years (interquartile range: 18–22 years), and 179 (6.0%) had alpha-gal IgE found. All 50 states had a home of record, and each had an average of 36 prospects (range: 3–261). Arkansas had the highest rates (39%), followed by Oklahoma (35%) and Missouri (29%). Several other southeastern states also had rates above 10%.
The granular maps showed patterns of sensitivity that were very similar to reports of Amblyomma americanum and E. chaffeensis cases at the county level. In both single and multivariate models, sensitization was linked to being male, living in a rural area, and being White. 6.0% of new service members who participated in this thorough study had alpha-gal IgE. There were big changes between regions. The general trend fit with the known spread of the lone star tick (A. americanum), and the ticks were most common in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213219823012011
