Rural Hospital Nonprofit Partner

The Alpha-gal Alliance is dedicated to building awareness, advancing solutions, and catalyzing action on alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a serious and sometimes life-threatening allergy that develops after a tick bite. People with AGS react to alpha-gal, a sugar found in most mammals and products made from them, including red meat, dairy, gelatin, and many drugs, biologics, and medical devices. Unlike other food allergies, alpha-gal syndrome is a major drug allergy and an emerging cause of perioperative anaphylaxis. In the United States, most cases are linked to the lone star tick, which is most common in southern, midwestern, and mid-Atlantic states, but whose range is expanding. In 2023, CDC identified AGS as a growing public health threat, estimating that up to 450,000 Americans were affected—a figure that more recent data suggests was a signficant underestimate.

Because tick exposure is more common in rural areas, AGS prevalence can be up to 20 times higher in rural communities, where allergists are scarce, emergency care is less accessible, and hospital resources for perioperative management of AGS are more limited. Through its Rural Health Initiative, the Alliance raises awareness of AGS among disproportionately impacted rural populations and the providers, hospitals, and clinics that serve them and works to ensure that they have the educational tools they need to recognize, manage, and prevent this emerging condition.

Services offered by Alpha-gal Alliance

Alpha-gal Alliance’s Rural Health Initiative works to raise awareness about AGS as a threat to rural health and to provide educational tools to disproportionately impacted populations and the rural providers, hospitals, and clinics who serve them.

For Rural Health Providers

  • Evidence-based resources designed to help providers better recognize, diagnose, and manage alpha-gal syndrome.
  • Educational opportunities with CE credits
  • An AGS publications data, searchable by specialty, medical product, and more

For People Affected by Alpha-gal Syndrome

  • Awareness through targeted outreach
  • The Alpha-gal Information website, the most trusted and extensive resource on alpha-gal syndrome
  • A database of expert and patient-recommended providers
  • A database of support groups
  • Educational materials, such as handouts and posters
  • Educational webinars

Alpha-gal Alliance’s Impact

  • Played a key role in elevating the perception of AGS from medical curiosity to major emerging public health concern.
  • Raised funds for key research to understand the pathophysiology of AGS, to accelerate the development of targeted therapies, and to understand the economic burden of AGS.
  • Created the first and most extensive resources on AGS.
  • Raised awareness about the impact of AGS on farmers and ranchers through a partnership with Agrisafe.
  • Partnering with Pork Checkoff and FFAR to identify gaps in AGS research.
  • Catalyzing outreach to rural populations via support for AGS extension outreach.
  • Catalyzing outreach to rural providers via support for an AGS ECHO.

Our work with rural health professionals

In partnership with the NRHA, the Alpha-gal Alliance seeks to foster early recognition, diagnosis, and management of alpha-gal syndrome and improve care of patients with AGS in rural areas. Beyond the risks AGS poses as a food allergy, most hospitals are unaware of how to mitigate AGS-related risks related to alpha-gal in medications, biologics, and medical products or how to manage perioperative care of patients with AGS. This leaves patients vulnerable to severe, preventable harm.

Through this partnership, the Society will:

  • Raise awareness of AGS as a growing threat to rural health
  • Host webinars featuring leading experts on the diagnosis, management, and perioperative care of patients with AGS
  • Engage rural health stakeholders, including providers, critical access hospitals, and FQHCs, to close critical knowledge gaps
  • Equip clinicians to recognize AGS early, diagnose it accurately, and protect patients from reactions to mammal-derived medications and products

A rural hospital or clinic may be a patient’s only point of contact with the healthcare system. When AGS goes unrecognized there, diagnosis can be delayed for years and routine care can cause preventable harm. Building awareness in these settings protects the rural patients who carry the heaviest burden of this condition.

“I’m the epidemiologist at a small rural health department and I’ve been educating providers and community members on ticks and tickborne diseases for 4 years now and I learned SO many things about AGS and Lonestar ticks that I previously did not know. I really appreciate the excellent information and I will be sure to pass it on. Thank you!” – M.H., Epidemiologist

What Sets Alpha-gal Alliance Apart:

Alpha-gal Alliance is the only nonprofit focused on the rural health impact of alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) and the creation of evidence-based, AGS-related educational resources for patients, providers, hospitals, and clinics in rural areas.

Contact

For more information about Alpha-gal Alliance and its Rural Health Initiative:

Sharon Forsyth
Executive Director
📞 (202) 253-5878
✉️ sharon@alphagalaction.org

Alpha-Gal Syndrome — The Allergy You’ve Never Heard Of (But Should Know About)

Agrisafe webinar Tick bites, meat allergy, and caring for livestock