NACE experts address tick-induced allergies at Senate inquiry

Published

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 9:00 AM

Australians must be more aware of the risks of being bitten by ticks, including the potentially fatal allergy induced by tick bite, according to National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE) experts.

Professor Sheryl van Nunen, NACE Insect Allergy Stream Co-chair, and Janelle Williams, NACE Consumer Advisory Group member who is allergic to tick bites, led a submission to a Senate inquiry calling for improved education and prevention strategies.

A report to the inquiry, ‘Access to diagnosis and treatment for people in Australia with tick-borne diseases’, is expected to be handed down today.

The pair are co-founders of TiARA (Tick-induced Allergies Research & Awareness), which used the submission to call for funding to support a ‘slip, slop, slap’ style campaign – a national tick bite prevention and management public education campaign – a prevalence survey of the level of sensitisation to alpha gal, and clinical research nurse for TiARA.

“Tick-induced allergies are the most common medical problems following tick bites, and they have killed several Australians with many more at risk,” said Professor van Nunen, who documented the first global case of Mammalian Meat Allergy (MMA) following tick bite in 2007.

“Australia has the highest proportion of its population affected by MMA and tick anaphylaxis in the world, with an estimated 113 people out of 100,000 developing the allergy,” she said.

"We also know, about 60 per cent of Australians are potentially exposed to tick bites in that they live in the 30 kilometres or so east of the Great Dividing Range where ticks are highly prevalent.”

Tick season in Australia begins in July and continues into the summer. 

Janelle, the Executive Producer of the Tick Tick Boom Podcast, said: “I am allergic to tick bites and was diagnosed with MMA in a life-threatening anaphylaxis episode”.

For many, including Janelle, symptoms show up between four and six hours after eating mammalian meat following a tick bite. A sugar molecule called alpha gal triggers an antibody response.

“MMA after tick bite, also known as alpha gal syndrome, has been recorded in 36 countries around the world, but it’s an allergy we don’t need to have with appropriate management that prevents the disease.

“My primary focus is educating people on how to avoid tick bites and – if you do get bitten – how to safely remove a tick so that you don’t disturb it making it squirt allergen into you. You must freeze them with an ether-containing spray available in pharmacies, not squeeze them.”

Learn more about the Senate inquiry into access to diagnosis and treatment for people in Australia with tick-borne diseases.

Image: Stephen L. Doggett