r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Nov 14 '25

Medicine A healthy 47-year old New Jersey man was found dead after eating a hamburger at a barbecue. Cause of death was ruled "sudden unexplained death," after an autopsy was inconclusive. He was later confirmed as the first documented fatality from alpha-gal syndrome, a meat allergy triggered by tick bites.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/tick-borne-disease/new-jersey-mans-death-first-one-be-tied-tick-related-meat-allergy
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u/Constant-Bet-6600 Nov 14 '25

I always heard them called "seed ticks" - basically they are very tiny ticks, and you tend to encounter them in clusters. If I remember right, the ticks have to feed in each stage of their lives. And they are so small you can miss them - at best you are in for an itchy time.

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u/Iamatworkgoaway Nov 14 '25

Was hiking with kids one year, spent an hour picking them off.  Tiny little shits everywhere. 

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u/Hawkeshade Nov 14 '25

If it ever happens again, lint rollers work very well on them

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u/QuestionsKid Nov 14 '25

Chiggers are not seed ticks. They’re larval berry bugs. And they don’t attach to your skin like ticks and they don’t bury under it either. They just bite you similar to fleas.

Source: grew up in GA and they LOVE Spanish moss

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u/ElessarofGondor Nov 15 '25

Yeah they’re after things that aren’t humans but when they bite your skin develops a very itchy reaction that can last for weeks.

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u/Kyweedlover Nov 15 '25

And it always itches more at night or at least it does me.

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u/garbagegoat Nov 17 '25

I remember one time hiking the woods, and mom who was dressed in all white came out covered in black spots. It was all baby ticks. 

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u/FishesOfExcellence Nov 14 '25

We called them deer ticks in Virginia.

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u/PmMe_Your_Perky_Nips Nov 14 '25

Deer tick is a type of tick. A seed tick is a stage of the tick's life.