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Sharon Pennington comes from a long line of farming women.
“And all that changed when I started getting very, very sick around the cattle,” Pennington said. “I mean, my heart was palpitating like I had a heart attack, and I was fighting for my breath.”
Early last year, she began experiencing anaphylaxis, a severe full-body allergic reaction that can lead to difficulties breathing, a sudden drop in blood pressure and heart problems.
Pennington began noticing these symptoms when working with orphan calves and nurse cows on Love Lake Iris Farm, which she owns with her husband in north central Missouri.
“One cow calved, and she had too much milk," Pennington said. "I was milking her and around all that fluid and just wondering, ‘Why in the world am I going to pass out or die? I don't know what's going on with me?'"
Pennington was having frequent allergic reactions, but she couldn’t identify what was causing them. There was one instance where she decided to sleep in her car after her husband cooked bacon and it became difficult for her to breathe. Another time, she couldn’t figure out why she was panting and unable to catch her breath for days – and then she discovered a cattle brush that had made it inside the house. At one point, she started having serious chest pains.
Her allergic reactions got so bad that she wasn’t able to work with her cattle anymore, which she said was heartbreaking.
So, Pennington and her husband made the decision to halt the orphan calf operation and sell off their nurse cows and weaned calves.
“[We] sold the last nurse cow in July,” Pennington said. “And that is the very day that I found out I had alpha-gal, finally. I said, ‘Let's go get one of those meat lovers pizzas,’ and so, after eating that, with all the meat varieties on it, I could not breathe at all. I was on the couch huffing and puffing and holding my heart.”
Days later, she went to the doctor and did a blood test, which came back positive for alpha-gal syndrome — an allergy to mammalian meats and byproducts, such as dairy and gelatin, that comes from the bite of the lone star tick.
Alpha-gal syndrome affects nearly half a million Americans, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For farmers and ranchers, who are in close contact with livestock everyday, the allergy can be especially challenging to navigate – and is pushing some to leave the industry altogether.
Health vs. the farm
Most people with alpha-gal syndrome experience allergic reactions after ingesting meat – such as beef, pork or venison, while some also have reactions to dairy or gelatin products.
But others, like Pennington, have severe anaphylactic reactions when they come into physical contact with livestock – whether through blood or amniotic fluid or dander in the air. Experts aren’t sure whether these reactions are truly alpha-gal syndrome or if this immune system hyperreactivity is triggered by the condition.
“Probably the short answer is, we don't know,” said Dr. Scott Commins, an allergist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and one of the leading alpha-gal researchers in the U.S.
“I think there's not great data,” Commins said. “I think it is an area where you could certainly say that there's uncertainty because patients are saying one thing and giving us reports of symptoms and reactions and, on the scientific side, we don't really have great research to say, “Yes, fumes and yes, fluids.”
But Commins stressed that these reactions do appear to be “very real” and are likely allergic reactions to alpha-gal in forms that most people don’t come into contact with as often.
He said there are some treatment options available for those with these severe reactions, but the medication can cost thousands of dollars a month. Plus, he added, farmers often don’t have the time to go through the long process of visiting a specialist to get a prescription for the medication.
“Many of them can carry on doing their job and can keep the farm, but there definitely are people who are affected and really struggle, because they may not have the resources to, like, bring in an extra set of hands,” Commins said.
Shaun Cross, a researcher at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, recently completed a first-of-its-kind national survey of farmers and ranchers with diagnosed cases of alpha-gal.
The 201 farmers with alpha-gal who responded to the survey hailed from 28 different states. But the majority live in areas where the lone star tick, which is responsible for most alpha-gal cases, is common, such as Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The survey results, which have not yet been published, highlight the acute impacts alpha-gal can have on ranchers and farmers.
Of the respondents, 69% reported they had to modify work tasks due to their diagnosis, while 57% said they experience signs and symptoms associated with the allergy daily.
Cross said the purpose of the survey was to understand how this emerging allergy was impacting the farming and ranching community — by asking them questions about their businesses, their physical health and their mental health.
“Farmers are really predisposed to mental health issues. It's a really big issue in the farming and ranching community,” Cross said.
They found that 78% of respondents said the diagnosis has caused them to feel distressed and worry about the productivity of their operation. And when it came to their mental health, 64% reported depression and 85% reported anxiety associated with the diagnosis.
Cross said they heard from people who’ve had to hire more help, stop raising livestock or leave farming altogether.
“The idea of a person shuttering down a farm that's been in their family for generations because of this new diagnosis, I can only imagine what that really does feel like,” Cross said. “ … [that] has to be devastating for these farms.”
A growing problem
In Missouri, there’s growing concern about alpha-gal among cattle ranchers, according to Ashley McCarty, the executive director of the advocacy group Missouri Farmers Care. McCarty, who co-owns a cattle farm in north Missouri, has had alpha-gal herself since the mid-90s.
Now she said she can’t attend a meeting anywhere in the state without hearing from farmers about their new alpha-gal diagnoses and the burden of the allergy.
“The need here for awareness is growing because I believe the incidence is growing,” McCarty said. “As a cattleman, I'm concerned for our beef markets. I'm concerned for people's lifestyles.”
McCarty says cattle producers are finding ways to adapt. Most now carry EpiPens in case of severe anaphylactic reactions, some are choosing to retire early and others, like herself, are moving into roles that require less hands-on time with the cattle, such as bookkeeping or secretarial work.
All of those decisions weigh heavily on farmers, she said.
“It's our lifestyle, it's our lives, our homes, everything,” McCarty said. “This century family farm that we've got is a heritage and a legacy. There's the weight of generations behind it, [so] there's a lot there to unpack when something suddenly pops up and changes the way that you interact with all of that.”
Kelly Decker and her husband own Flying D Beef, a direct-to-consumer beef operation in north central Oklahoma. She said they butcher 45 to 50 head of cattle a year, as well as 75 to 100 ewes that they sell directly to a local processing plant.
She was diagnosed with alpha-gal in 2019 and said the first few years were hard on her mental health.
”I used to live with a lot of anxiety after I was diagnosed. Some of it was not knowing what would cause my reaction, trying to figure out what I was extremely sensitive to,” Decker said.
She said she considers herself lucky because her alpha-gal is manageable as long as she doesn’t eat red meat and is careful around their livestock. She has had some skin reactions when helping lamb on the farm.
“There's been a few instances when amniotic fluid has gotten onto my skin,” Decker said. “It'll kind of start itching and turn red, but I'm able to wash my hands and I'll take antihistamine, then an H2 blocker and it'll subside pretty quickly.”
But Decker knows of producers with alpha-gal who aren’t as lucky and have had to leave farming altogether.
“That would be devastating,” she said, “and my heart breaks for the people who have had to deal with that and have had to go through losing part of their identity from this allergy.”
Both Decker and McCarty agree that they want to see livestock and farming groups bring more attention to alpha-gal so that producers have assistance navigating this growing issue.
The push for research and education
Sharon Forsyth is the founder of the Alpha-Gal Information website, the Alpha-Gal Alliance and the Alpha-Gal Alliance Action Fund. She was diagnosed with the allergy in 2019 and, since then, has worked to educate more people about the condition.
Last year, she co-hosted an event specifically for farmers through the AgriSafe Network, a non-profit working to address health disparities in the agricultural community.
Forsyth said she’s spoken with farmers who are “barely hanging in there” since being diagnosed with alpha-gal because it has fundamentally changed the way they interact — or, in many cases, can’t interact — with their livestock.
It can be difficult to always take the needed precautions, Forsyth said, especially for time-sensitive tasks, like when a calf is on the way.
“Maybe they don't have their special gloves and their respirator or whatever it is that they need,” she said, “so they kind of have to make this choice: ‘Do I like put my life at risk and not care for my animal, which is one of my core values, or do I go and deliver this calf and risk a life-threatening reaction?’”
She said they’ve worked with national agricultural organizations, such as the National Pork Board, to bring more attention to the allergy. The Pork Board hosted a webinar for dieticians about alpha-gal in January, which drew about 600 people.
Dr. Heather Fowler is a public health veterinarian who serves as the board’s director of producer and public health. She said they’re approaching the allergy from several different directions by providing educational opportunities, as well as working to increase the scientific understanding of alpha-gal.
The National Pork Board just funded a thorough scientific review of what is known about the allergy, as well as gaps in knowledge, Fowler said. The hope, she explained, is that this research could then be translated into action, such as better educational materials or tick bite prevention strategies.
“We want to make sure that we're doing all we can to protect those producers that might be at an occupational risk of exposure there, and then also, the consumers,” Fowler said. “And in order to educate and inform, we first need to do the research.”
Sharon Forsyth said she’s excited to see awareness of alpha-gal growing — not just among individuals, but also among national agricultural industry groups.
She said having alpha-gal is challenging for anyone, but the unique complications it presents for those whose lives and livelihoods revolve around mammals can be burdensome, especially because their environment is constantly putting them at risk of tick bites.
“It's such a cultural value for farmers — caring for their animals, and to feel like you can't care for your animal is very emotionally devastating.” Forsyth said.
She advises farmers and ranchers to take every precaution they can to avoid tick bites — wear permethrin-treated clothing which can repel ticks, wear long sleeves and pants when working outdoors and do regular tick checks once indoors.
It’s not perfect, Forsyth said, but it’s a good start — while waiting for research, treatment and tick control strategies to catch up.
This story was first produced by KBIA. This version was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.