Doctors say they are seeing an increase in patients being diagnosed with a red meat allergen caused by a Lone Star tick bite.

Greenpoint resident Dennis Kern says he was recently diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome.

It is an allergy to meat that doctors say is caused by a Lone Star tick bite.

Kern said he had a simple rib dinner and soon started breaking out in hives.

A few hours later, he says he had two swollen spots on the back of his skull. He continued to ignore it.

By the next morning, those two swollen spots connected.

Kern says, " it was like having an airline pillow on the back of my neck and severe itching, uncontrollable itching."

The back of his skull on both sides was swollen by midnight, but Kern still did not go to the hospital.

Dr. Brianne Navetta-Modrov, an allergist and immunologist at Stony Brook Medicine's Advanced Specialty Care in Commack said, "These reactions can be deadly, so when you present with an allergic reaction in the middle of the night, this is one of the things that needs to be thought about, in terms of a possible cause."

On a positive note, the doctor says there appears to be more and more awareness now of alpha-gal syndrome. Most patients are expected to outgrow it in just a few years

You can contact Stony Brook's "Help Line" at (631) 726-TICK, which receives calls all over the nation and internationally.

You can also visit the Regional Tick-Borne Disease Resource Center.

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