Overview
- A peer-reviewed medical case report identifies Brian Paul Waitzel, 47, as the first well-documented fatality from alpha-gal syndrome, the tick-associated meat allergy.
- Waitzel became violently ill hours after eating a hamburger in September 2024 in Wall Township, New Jersey, and was pronounced dead that night despite prolonged resuscitation efforts.
- He had experienced a similar delayed gastrointestinal attack after eating steak on a camping trip weeks earlier, a pattern consistent with alpha-gal reactions that often begin several hours after mammalian meat consumption.
- Postmortem testing found elevated markers of anaphylaxis and alpha-gal–specific antibodies, supporting a diagnosis of fatal allergic reaction triggered by prior tick exposure.
- Clinicians and researchers urge greater awareness and targeted testing as exposure to lone star ticks expands, with recent reports citing hundreds of diagnoses in New Jersey in 2024 and thousands of suspected cases on eastern Long Island in recent years.