An allergy clinic in Tennessee has found that 33 percent of their anaphylaxis cases of known cause were due to an allergic reaction to a molecule called alpha-gal. This molecule naturally occurs in red meats, such as beef, lamb, pork, and venison.

The red meat allergy develops in people who have been bitten by the Lone Star tick, a small eight-legged bug that is most commonly found in the Southeastern United States.

The researchers say that alpha-gal allergy used to be "an unknown entity" at the allergy clinic in the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

However, as awareness has increased and diagnostic tests have become available, the tick-induced red meat allergy has become the center's "most commonly identified cause of anaphylaxis."

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