Can You Be Allergic to Meat?

What if you were a real meat-lover, and one day, after decades of eating whatever you wanted, you suddenly developed what appeared to be an allergic reaction a few hours after eating a steak?steak

Your family physician will tell you no, you’re wrong, you can’t be allergic to meat, it must be something else (or maybe in your head).   So you decide to test the allergy theory yourself and end up in the emergency room.

Yes, it is possible to develop a sudden meat allergy, according to “Alpha Gal”, a fascinating podcast from Radiolab (http://www.radiolab.org/story/alpha-gal/).   How that could happen is quite a detective story, ultimately involving three different species.

I guess in medicine sometimes nothing should be ruled out.

 

The photo is from the Radiolab website.

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