Worrying tick-induced allergy on the rise after death of 16yo Jeremy Webb

The parents of a teenager who died after a severe allergic reaction to beef sausages, later described as a landmark case of tick-borne allergy, said his death could have been prevented as diagnosis rates continue to rise.

Jeremy Webb, 16, began experiencing breathing problems after eating a beef sausage while camping with friends in June 2022.

It wasn’t the first time he had a reaction after eating red meat, but his family had no idea it was caused by a tick.

When he was five years old he and his family moved to the NSW Central Coast and he spent much of his time outdoors.

He was often bitten by ticks while camping and cycling with his family.

Her mother, Myfanwy Webb, said she felt they would make her sick but had no idea the bites would eventually prove fatal.

Mammal Meat Allergy (MMA), the tick-borne condition commonly known as Alpha Gal Syndrome, is a potentially life-threatening allergy to red meats such as pork and beef, dairy products, and gelatins.

Symptoms usually begin to appear two to 10 hours after consuming the food and cause hives, facial swelling, abdominal cramps, and vomiting.

Severe symptoms include shortness of breath and anaphylaxis.

Jeremy’s first reaction to red meat was at the age of 10, when he became ill after eating a piece of steak.

“Oh, I’m feeling a little nauseous, a little out of sorts,” he said to his mother.

The family began to avoid eating pork or red meat, but their asthma-type symptoms continued.

“His eyelids… were swollen. And sometimes he was so exhausted the next day that he couldn’t go to school because he couldn’t concentrate,” Ms. Webb told 60 Minutes.

“And I attributed it to my insomnia due to asthma.”

He was hospitalized twice for symptoms of anaphylaxis, but doctors said asthma was the likely cause and sent him home.

Dad Jonathan said doctors were not aware of the allergy.

In June 2022, Jeremy went on a camping trip with friends who cooked beef sausages and marshmallows over a campfire.

A few hours after the meal, Jeremy told friends that he felt nauseous, had trouble breathing, and started vomiting.

His friends immediately gave him CPR until paramedics arrived.

“It was very brave of those kids to do that,” Mr. Webb said.

“They did the right thing; they kept my son alive until the paramedics arrived.”

Jeremy was taken to Gosford Hospital where he died.

The official cause of death was asthma, which “shocked” Jeremy’s parents.

“I mean, this was one of those things where you couldn’t let a 16-year-old die suddenly,” Ms. Webb said.

An investigation into the teenager’s death in February determined that the teenager died due to an anaphylactic reaction to mammal meat, which triggered an asthma attack.

Immunologist Sheryl van Nunen diagnosed the teenager with allergies after his death in November last year.

“The forensic pathologist had isolated some blood from Jeremy and this was tested and we were able to diagnose mammalian meat allergy after the autopsy,” he said.

Jeremy’s was the first death attributed to MMA, but Professor van Nunen said it was likely that many others had died from the same allergy.

“I know more people are dying because of this,” he said.

“People whose manner of death was classified as asthma were actually food allergies.”

CSIRO senior research scientist Alex Gofton said the number of MMA cases had increased by around 22 per cent since 2020.

“There are over 5,000 people living with this condition,” Dr Gofton said.

The number of people living with allergies is increasing, partly due to the wet weather on the country’s east coast.

“We know that weather conditions really impact tick numbers, and we saw that three La Niña years in the early 2020s actually increased tick numbers,” he said.

Dr Gofton urged anyone bitten to use freezing spray to remove ticks.

“The most important thing is to safely remove the tick as quickly as possible,” he said.

“We live by this motto here: Freeze, don’t squeeze.”