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Residents in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, are being forced to change what’s on their plates as a dangerous tick-borne allergy sweeps the once-glamorous island, reports say.
The lone star tick, an aggressive bloodsucker, has triggered a surge in “alpha-gal syndrome,” a condition that leaves victims unable to eat red meat or dairy without risking allergic reactions. Some have even gone into anaphylactic shock.
Hundreds of residents have already been affected, with 523 cases reported last year, according to The Times of London.
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But when the scare worsened this summer as barbecue season got underway, people reshaped their diets and food shopping habits, and local restaurants changed their menus.
“I woke up at 2 a.m. with major stomach cramps and thought I had food poisoning,” Andrew Keenan, 58, told The Times of London. Keenan had eaten skirt steak several hours before.
“I managed to go back to sleep but woke up four hours later and was covered in hives. I sat up in bed and almost fainted just from sitting up; that’s how low my blood pressure was,” he said of the meal in 2020 that triggered anaphylactic shock.
Keenan said he used an antihistamine to reduce the reaction. It was only after he was taken to the hospital that doctors discovered a tick had bitten him.
People on the island claim there’s now a rise in vegetarians and what’s now known as “alpha-gal-friendly” menus at restaurants.
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Resident Kate Sudarsky, 26, said the scare ruined her summer.
“It has had a huge impact on me,” she told the Times. “I just can’t trust that a lot of places are able to accommodate my allergies. Or going over to somebody’s house for a potluck or a barbecue, you don’t want to be the social pariah asking people, ‘Is this vegan? What about that?’”
Symptoms include hives, stomach cramps, vomiting and breathlessness, and people can experience anaphylactic shock.
This means sugar and dairy products are off some menus, and the island’s stores are packing their shelves with plant-based substitutes for dairy products, according to The Times.
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One restaurant owner in Edgartown offers an “alpha-gal entrée.”
“We’ll have local people come in, and they’ll absolutely ask for alpha-gal entrées. No dairy, nothing with mammals,” said Megan DeLisle, the general manager of the Black Dog.
“People are talking about it all the time. They get a tick bite, and they’re scared, asking for advice.”
Although lone star ticks are more common in the South, they’ve recently appeared on Martha’s Vineyard due to the island’s large deer population.
The ticks thrive in grassy areas and dense forests, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Tick-borne Illness Reduction Initiative.
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