Allergy to Mammalian Meat Linked to Alpha-Gal Syndrome Potentially After Tick Bite in the Amazon: A Case Series.
The past decade has seen the emergence of a new type of food allergy occurring after ingestion of mammalian meat. This allergy is related to immunoglobulin (Ig)E specific for galactose-alpha-1,3 galactose (α-Gal). Originally described in the United States in 2009, other cases have subsequently been described in Australia and in Europe, but still very few in Latin America. The purpose of this study was to show the existence of this pathology in French Guiana and to describe the historical, clinical, and biological characteristics of these patients. Patients reporting an allergy to mammalian meat were included between September 2017 and August 2019. Eleven patients were included, nine of whom exhibited digestive symptoms; four, urticaria reactions; three, respiratory reactions; and five angioedema. The time between ingestion of red meat and reaction varied between 1.5 and 6 hours. The implicated meats were most often beef and pork. All patients had been regularly exposed to tick bites before the appearance of symptoms. All the samples (n = 7) were positive for anti-α-Gal anti-mammalian meats IgE. All the patients were Caucasian French expatriates. This study confirms the presence of this new entity in French Guiana and is the largest reported in Latin America. Our results do not clearly allow us to state that tick bites are the cause of this allergy, but all patients reported being exposed regularly to these arthropods.