Ticks & Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS)

Normally, we don’t talk about ticks in late fall and winter. Unfortunately, this year we must. In November of 2025 researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine believe they documented the first known death from alpha-gal syndrome (AGS). AGS is a red meat allergy that is caused by a tick bite. The victim in this situation was a 47-year-old man from here in New Jersey.  It is important to have a better understanding of what AGS is, how it is spread, and how you can protect yourself and your family from it.

AGS is a tick-borne illness that causes a red meat allergy. A person can get AGS if they are bitten by an infected tick. In our area, the tick that usually carries this is the lone star tick. When the tick bites a person, it transfers alpha-gal, a type of sugar to them. The person’s immune system develops a response to this sugar molecule; in the future, when the person eats products that contain alpha-gal they have an allergic reaction. This reaction can be deadly. Foods that contain alpha-gal include, but are not limited to, beef, pork, bison, lamb, goat, milk, and gelatin. AGS can be hard to diagnose because symptoms often don’t present for 2-6 hours, whereas most food related allergic reactions typically occur within a few minutes of consuming an allergen.

What can you do to reduce your chance of getting AGS? The best way to reduce your chance of getting AGS is to reduce your chance of being bitten by a tick by following these steps. First, when you are in a high-risk area (an area with tall grass, leaf litter, or lots of underbrush) make sure you are wearing an effective tick repellent such as DEET. 
You should also wear clothes that have had permethrin applied to them (never apply permethrin directly to your skin however). Your clothes should be light colored (so ticks are easy to spot on you). Wearing long pants, tucked into your socks, creates a barrier for ticks to get onto your legs.

Lastly, make sure to do a tick check within an hour of coming inside. Take special care to check your waistline, neck, hairline, arm pits, and ears. Using a mirror can be very useful for those hard to see areas. You really should perform tick checks year-round. There is a popular myth that ticks hibernate, but unfortunately, they do not. Some ticks will enter a dormant state, but may start seeking hosts on days that are above freezing.

This is a good time of year to prepare for the increase in the number of ticks that happens in the Spring. Although you cannot protect all the outdoor areas you and your family frequent, you can protect your yard. Reach out to us and learn more about our Mosquito and Tick Reduction Program. Although you should still do tick checks when you come in, a properly treated yard will have significantly less ticks than other yards in the area. We start our programs in April, so this is actually a good time to get in touch with us and get everything set up for the spring.