National alpha-gal surveillance with Dr. Eleanor Saunders

So this was a study conducted with blood donor samples, 3,000 samples from 10 different states collected between November 2024 and April 2025.

And writ large, the rationale was that there had been what we call convenience sample studies.

So these are samples collected for another reason that then were tested for alpha-gal IgE.

That's been a big part of the AGS landscape, right? Yeah,

exactly.

Because it's so newly discovered, thanks to Dr. Commons and others, we have had to use other groups of samples to understand how many people might show signs of having produced an IgE antibody response to this molecule alpha-gal.

But the other samples, again, they're what's called convenience samples.

So these have been studies of foresters.

These have been studies of COVID-19.

There's a COVID-19 cohort in Virginia.

These have been studies of people coming in for a screening colonoscopy or an upper endoscopy.

These have been studies in Sweden and other countries, and they have shown surprisingly high seroprevalence.

So in the Southeast, in the central United States, where we know that the Lone Star tick is present, These seroprevalence studies have shown between 20% and 30% seropositivity for alpha-gal IgE.

And so the thought was really to standardize that and to be able to develop numbers that applied you know, that we could apply to other populations, right? If you're not a forester, what does that mean for you? What are your chances of being? Because all these other

samples seem like they come from people who either have some pre-existing condition or an occupation.

And then you're trying to like generate some inference, but it's not really a random sampling.

Exactly right, yeah.

And so by studying blood donors, nor are blood donors exactly like the general population, but statistically we were able to use some techniques to make the numbers generated apply to general populations of these states.

So let me talk about why the states were selected.

In 2023, colleagues at the CDC, Julie Thompson and others, published a separate study, and what that did was that produced a map of where alpha-gal syndrome suspect cases were occurring.

And again, that map looked a lot like the Lone Star Tick distribution map.

Now, what that study... incorporated what were blood tests sent under clinical suspicion.

So we don't have any data about these patients.

These are laboratory tests with the question positive or negative.

And so they're suspect cases because we aren't able to match those to interviews about the patient to their medical records.