AGA Clinical Practice Update on Alpha-Gal Syndrome for the GI Clinician: Commentary

Alpha-gal syndrome is an emerging allergy first described in the early 2000s. The allergy can cause anaphylaxis, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, and skin changes one to several hours after ingestion of mammalian products. A GI phenotype that is increasingly recognized manifests with nonspecific symptoms like abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting without predominant skin, respiratory or circulatory symptoms. Though the syndrome has been reported on all continents except Antarctica, in the United States most reports are within the range of the Lone Star tick, extending from New York and Iowa to Texas and Florida. The purpose of this AGA Clinical Practice Update (CPU) Commentary is to increase awareness among gastroenterologists about the presentation and management of alpha-gal syndrome.

This CPU commentary was commissioned and approved by the AGA Institute Clinical Practice Updates Committee (CPUC) and the AGA Governing Board to provide timely guidance on a topic of high clinical importance to the AGA membership and underwent internal peer review by the CPUC and external peer review through standard procedures of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. This expert commentary incorporates important as well as recently published studies in this field, and it reflects the experiences of the authors. Formal ratings regarding the quality of evidence or strength of the presented considerations were not included since systematic reviews were not performed.