A new study presented at the American College of Gastroenterology 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting has reported a significant increase in cases of alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a tick-borne allergy linked to reactions from consuming red meat, pork and some dairy products.
Researchers examined data from the TriNetX US Collaborative Network covering dozens of health systems and identified 3,828 adults tested for alpha-gal specific IgE antibodies between 2010 and 2025. Of those tested, 749 patients returned positive results, representing 23 percent of the cohort and making it one of the largest reported real-world AGS studies to date.
According to the findings, positivity rates among tested patients rose from 1.8 percent in 2013–2014 to 38 percent in 2021–2022, with newly identified cases meeting study criteria reaching 100 percent positivity in 2023–2024. Researchers also reported incidence rates increasing from 0.95 cases per 100 patient-years in 2013–2014 to 94.06 cases per 100 patient-years in 2023–2024. The study noted that greater awareness and testing may partly explain the increase, although researchers said the scale of growth could indicate a genuine rise in clinical cases.
Separate commentary circulating alongside the study referenced a paper by academics from Western Michigan University discussing hypothetical genetic engineering of lone star ticks to spread alpha-gal syndrome as a form of “moral bioenhancement” aimed at reducing meat consumption.
The commentary also cited historical US Army-funded research in the 1960s involving the release of radioactively labelled ticks in Virginia and Montana to study tick dispersal patterns, while calling for further independent investigation into the spread of lone star ticks and the increase in alpha-gal syndrome cases.
