Man Who Died Of Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Was From Wall Township, Report Says

WALL, NJ — The 47-year-old man who died from what is commonly called a “meat allergy” spread by a certain type of tick was a pilot from Wall Township, according to a report from the New York Times.

Brian Waitzel, a JetBlue pilot who grew up in Monmouth County, died a few hours after eating meat in 2024, the report said.

His cause of death remained unknown until Thomas Platts-Mills, a doctor with the University of Virginia and a world-renowned allergist, investigated and discovered the death to be related to an allergy caused by sensitivity to alpha-gal, a sugar found in mammalian meat.

Waitzel’s widow, Pieper Waitzel, told the New York Times that she recalled discussing alpha-gal with her husband years ago after coming across an article about people stricken with meat allergies after tick bites.

At the time, Pieper said alpha-gal was “just a little too obscure to worry about,” but in the time since her husband’s cause of death was discovered, she told the New York Times that it’s a relief to no longer have to tell people that she doesn’t know why he died.

“Everything changed in our life in 10 minutes and to not know why,” Pieper said. “That was so upsetting.”

Prior to his death in September 2024, Waitzel went camping with his wife and kids that summer.

After eating a late steak dinner one night, he woke up at 2 a.m. with severe abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. Though he recovered by morning, he told his son that he thought he was going to die.

Two weeks later, still unaware that he had contracted a meat allergy, Waitzel ate a hamburger at a barbecue. Around 7 p.m., he began feeling ill, and his son found him collapsed in the bathroom around a half-hour later.

At the time, Waitzel’s autopsy was inconclusive, with the cause of death reported as “sudden unexplained death.”

After Pieper asked a doctor to review the autopsy further, and it was forwarded to Platts-Mills, he obtained samples of Waitzel’s blood that had been collected post-mortem and found that he had been sensitized to alpha-gal.

Further, the blood indicated that he had an extreme reaction, in line with what’s seen in fatal anaphylaxis.

Though Pieper didn’t recall her husband having tick bites in the past year, she did say that he had gone jogging in a nearby state park and returned with a dozen small bites around his ankles, the report said.

Though Waitzel assumed the bites were from chiggers (tiny mites that live outdoors), Platts-Mills said many times what appear to be chigger bites are actually bites from lone star tick larvae, which are commonly found throughout the eastern U.S. and as far north as Canada.

In the wake of Waitzel’s death, Platts-Mills is urging physicians to be on the lookout for people who have developed a meat allergy or are at risk of exposure.

Severe abdominal pain that occurs three to five hours after eating beef, pork, or lamb should be investigated as a possible episode of anaphylaxis, Platts-Mills said.

Additionally, tick bites that itch for more than a week, or larvae of ticks, often called ‘chiggers,’ can induce or increase sensitization to mammalian-derived meat.

“On the other hand," Platts-Mills continued, "Most individuals who have mild to moderate episodes of hives can control symptoms with an appropriate diet."

Because symptoms of tick-borne illnesses can lag, officials are also advising people to protect themselves against ticks when they’re in places where ticks are likely to be found, such as grassy, brushy and wooded areas, or even a backyard.

Some tips from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to protect yourself are:

• Wear socks and boots, and tuck your pants into your boots. Cover your hair as well.
• Tick-specific insect repellents can help, too. Treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents with products containing 0.5 percent permethrin.
• Talk to your veterinarian about tick treatments for cats and dogs.
• Check yourself for ticks daily, especially under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and on the hairline and scalp.
• Shower soon after being outdoors.
• If you do find a tick, remove it from your skin as soon as possible.

To read the full report from the New York Times, you can click here.

Previous Coverage

• He Ate A Hamburger, And 4 Hours Later He Died: 1st Death Reported From Tick Found In NJ