Alpha-gal Syndrome Surveillance — Virginia, 2024–2025
- Presentation Day/Time: Friday, April 24, 9:05 AM
- Presenter: Maxwell Weidmann, MD, PhD, MPH, EIS officer assigned to the Virginia Department of Health
The Issue
- Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) is a serious, potentially life-threatening allergy to a molecule naturally produced in the bodies of mammals such as cows and pigs that can develop after someone is bitten by a tick. Although a recent national assessment found ~90,000 suspect AGS cases during 2017–2022, the AGS burden in many U.S. jurisdictions is unknown.
What We Did
- We describe the epidemiology of suspected AGS cases in Virginia based on voluntary laboratory surveillance. We then evaluated potential impediments to statewide AGS surveillance, initiated in September 2025, which includes mandatory laboratory reporting, provider-initiated morbidity reports, and investigations for a subset of suspect cases.
What We Found
- The high volume and monthly variability of suspected AGS cases limits stability of this surveillance system, while low relative priority among local health district staff and low interview response rate reduce investigation completion rate.
What This Means
- The high volume and monthly variability of suspected AGS cases limits stability of this surveillance system, while low relative priority among local health district staff and low interview response rate reduce investigation completion rate.
