This fascinating topic was exhaustively covered in a recent
NY Times article: What the Mystery of the Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Could Reveal.1
It’s a far-reaching story that touches on immunology,
infectious disease, the microbiome, ecology and many other areas of the basic sciences
as they apply to a newly evolving human
disease. Much of the early and current work has been done
by Thomas Platts-Mills and his associates at the University of Virginia School
of Medicine.2
The NY Times article is a great introduction to this important
topic. It will be of particular interest
to Biology majors, medical students and physicians.
References
1. Moises Velasquez-Manoff. What the
Mystery of the Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Could Reveal. New York Times, July 24,
2018. Link.
2. Wilson JM, Platts-Mills TAE. Meat allergy and allergens. Mol
Immunol. 2018 Aug;100:107-112. (Good Basic Review)
Abstract: IgE-mediated hypersensitivity to ingested animal
products, including both mammalian and avian sources, is increasingly appreciated
as an important form of food allergy. Traditionally described largely in
children, it is now clear that allergy to meat (and animal viscera) impacts
both children and adults and represents a heterogeneous group of allergic
disorders with multiple distinct syndromes. The recognition of entities such as
pork-cat syndrome and delayed anaphylaxis to red meat, i.e- the α-Gal syndrome,
have shed light on fundamental, and in some cases newly appreciated, features
of allergic disease. These include insights into routes of exposure and
mechanisms of sensitization, as well as the realization that IgE-mediated
reactions can be delayed by several hours. Here we review mammalian and avian
meat allergy with an emphasis on the molecular allergens and pathways that contribute
to disease, as well as the role of in vitro IgE testing in diagnosis and
management.
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