Central coast teenager confirmed as first tick-induced fatality in Australia
Jeremy Webb has become the first confirmed to have died from a tick-induced red meat allergy in Australia.
The 16-year-old from the Central Coast began having difficulty breathing after eating beef sausages on a camping trip at MacMasters Beach in June 2022. His friends attempted to revive him, but he collapsed and passed away in hospital.
Jeremy's death was initially determined to be asthma, however NSW Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes has ruled he died from an anaphylactic reaction to mammalian meat, which triggered an asthma attack.
"Without the anaphylaxis, the asthma would not have caused his death", Magistrate Forbes told the court on Thursday February 26 2026
Jeremey’s parents, Myfanwy and Johnathan Webb, had called for a coronial inquest into their son's death, hoping to raise awareness about the life-threatening allergy.
In the hearing in November, clinical immunologist and allergist Sheryl van Nunen posthumously diagnosed Jeremy with mammalian meat allergy.
During childhood, Jeremy was repeatedly bitten by ticks while camping in bushland on the NSW Central Coast.
Mammalian Meat Allergy (MMA) is an allergy to mammalian meats or products made from mammalian meats. A person may develop MMA after they have been previously bitten by a tick. The connection between tick bites and developing MMA was discovered by Sydney clinical immunology/allergy specialist, Associate Professor Sheryl van Nunen OAM. A carbohydrate called alpha-galactose (alpha-gal) has found to be connected with the development of MMA.
MMA can develop weeks (or longer) after a tick bite. Some people who develop MMA are known to have had allergic reactions to ticks (such as a large local reaction or anaphylaxis). Other people, who did not have an allergic reaction when they were bitten by a tick, can still go on to develop MMA .
A person with MMA can experience a mild or moderate allergic reaction or severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis).
The tick-induced condition, also known as alpha-gal syndrome, is a potentially life-threatening allergy to red meat such as beef, pork and lamb and sometimes gelatine and fats or more exotic meats such as kangaroo.
Unlike most food allergies, reactions can manifest between two and 10 hours after consumption, with symptoms ranging from abdominal cramping and vomiting, to severe allergic reactions and anaphylaxis.
'Jeremy continues to make a positive impact'
Speaking outside court, Jeremy’s mother credited the inquest with providing her family with answers about her son's death. Ms Webb believes her son's legacy will live on by increasing awareness about the allergy.
She told the ABC Thursday's findings would make him "so, so proud".
"During his life, Jeremy made a positive impact on the lives of his friends, family and also strangers," Ms Webb said.
"Jeremy continues to make a positive impact [by] saving lives into the future.
"He made a difference when he was alive and now he's still continuing to make a difference when he's passed, which is really incredible."
Mr Webb was grateful recognition of how his son died could save lives in the future.
"If these changes in public education can help prevent other patients from dying from alpha-gal, then that's all we want," he said.
"I don't want any other parents to have to go through it. It's something you live with for the rest of your life. It's tough."
During the inquest, experts described a previous admission to hospital as a "missed opportunity" to identify the life-threatening risks associated with his allergy.
Magistrate Forbes recommended Jeremy's death be used as a case study by the Central Coast Local Health District.
The tragedy can also benefit patients in the Northern Sydney LHD where residents have been stating for decades their reactions to tick bites are severe.
According to CSIRO research, Pittwater has the highest population of people living with the condition in the world, recording 744 cases per 100,000 residents in 2025.
Two confirmed fatal cases worldwide
Professor van Nunen told the ABC Jeremy's death was the first documented fatal case of mammalian meat allergy in the country and second in the world.
US-based researchers believe a 47-year-old New Jersey man is the only other fatal case of alpha-gal syndrome.
According to allergists from the University of Virginia, the previously healthy pilot died hours after eating a hamburger at a barbecue in 2024.
While deaths of mammalian meat allergy are rare, 14 recorded fatalities have been caused by medicines containing alpha-gal — the same sugar molecule found in red meat.
Professor van Nunen told the inquest people had a 50 per cent chance of developing the allergy after being bitten by just two ticks.
Over the past five years, cases of the historically under-diagnosed condition have increased by 40 per cent every year.
Most of those with the allergy live along Australia's east coast, with the Australian paralysis tick dominating areas from Cooktown in Far North Queensland, right down to Lakes Entrance in Victoria.
Public awareness campaign Needed
Maria Said, health manager at Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia, and a committee member of TiARA, said the teenager's death was a reminder of the importance of identifying mammalian meat allergy and providing patients with vital health information.
"Jeremy's death and the death of others from food allergies is almost always preventable," she said.
"With the right systems in place, Jeremy could have been armed with the information he needed, with the emergency medication he needed to prevent his loss of life."
Jeremy's coronial inquest has become a landmark case for the Australian medical field, with Professor van Nunen labelling the findings as ones that "will save lives".
"It's a very sad fact that if you die from food allergy, whatever the food allergy is, you have an 85 per cent chance of dying from asthma triggered by your anaphylaxis," she said.
The clinical immunologist called on the federal government to "step up", saying those working in this field had "asked on many occasions for an effective public health campaign" about ticks.
"[We can] abolish it. It doesn't have to exist," Professor van Nunen told the ABC.
"This is the only food allergy in the world where we know what causes it, it's the only one that we can primarily prevent by not happening in the first place."
MMA in Australia: CSIRO Research
- Preliminary findings from CSIRO research indicate that nationally case numbers of mammalian meat allergy have increased by 40 per cent annually since 2020, suggesting this is a growing health concern in parts of Australia.
- CSIRO researchers are also looking at the link between mammalian meat allergy and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
In a December 2025 update CSIRO stated it has teamed up Australian pathology providers to produce the first comprehensive national surveillance of MMA in Australia using anonymous testing data from QML Pathology, Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology, Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, and Laverty Pathology.
Early findings reveal that MMA may be far more common in certain parts of Australia than previously thought. In some tick-prone regions, rates exceed 700 cases per 100,000 people. Nationally, reported cases have been climbing by around 40 per cent annually since 2020, pointing to a growing health concern.
However, not everyone with the allergy experiences symptoms, which means the number of people with undiagnosed MMA is unclear.
Senior Research Scientist and study lead Dr Alex Gofton said this is significant as recent international and Australian studies have uncovered a potential link between MMA and heart disease.
“A large Australian study of more than 1,000 people found people having heart attacks were 12 times more likely to have alpha-gal antibodies than healthy people,” Dr Gofton said.
“Interestingly, most of the patients in this Australian study didn't even know they had a meat allergy. They weren't experiencing allergic reactions, but their immune system was still responding to alpha-Gal."
To understand this complex link, CSIRO researchers are working with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood to screen blood donor samples to try to determine how many Australians may unknowingly have alpha-Gal antibodies and potentially be at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
“This base-line data will be crucial to help determine whether tick bites are a cryptic driver of cardiovascular disease, and whether alpha-Gal antibody screening tools could help to better identify people at risk of cardiovascular disease.”
''The hypothesis is that exposure to the alpha-gal allergen leads to low-level inflammation of the plaques associated with coronary artery disease.
But we haven’t started analysing those samples, so it’s early days yet.”
In an report published in The Conversation on Thursday, Professor Gofton stated:
''While this latest Australian case involved a teenager, mammalian meat allergy typically occurs in older age groups.
In research that colleagues and I have just concluded and will be submitting for publication shortly, we’ve found that mammalian meat allergy peaks in Australians aged 45–75.
Females are at increased risk, accounting for about 60% of cases, but we don’t know what’s driving that.
Our analysis of 11 years of data to 2025 also showed that annual case numbers remained relatively stable until 2020, but have since grown rapidly, on average 22% year on year.
By 2024, we saw 787 people nationwide testing positive to alpha-gal antibodies.
But most (we estimate about 90%) of that increase is down to greater awareness and more testing for mammalian meat allergy.'' he said
''Only about 10% is due to a real increase in disease prevalence. We don’t exactly know why this is happening. But hypotheses include a run of mild summers/wet winters leading to higher tick numbers, or greater exposure to ticks as people move to the bush or urban fringes.
In our study we saw cases from every state and territory, although 96% of cases occurred within Ixodes holocyclus endemic regions along the east coast.
What was remarkable, though, was the extreme geographical clustering of cases in specific high-risk regions.
Hinterland regions of south-east Queensland and northern NSW, the northern beaches regions of Sydney, and NSW south coast in particular had disproportionately high case numbers.''
How to protect yourself
In Australia, it’s mainly the bite of the eastern paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) that causes mammalian meat allergy.
The tick’s saliva naturally contains a sugar molecule called alpha-gal, short for galactose-α-1,3-galactose, a sugar not normally present in humans.
So when a tick bites, alpha-gal enters the blood stream and in some people prompts the body to produce molecules associated with an allergic response (known as IgE antibodies). So their body is “primed” for an allergic reaction, but doesn’t have one straight away.
There is no cure for mammalian meat allergy. So preventing tick bites is best:
- wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when walking or working in areas where there are ticks
- tuck pants into long socks
- wear a wide-brimmed hat
- wear light-coloured clothing
- use insect repellent, particularly ones containing DEET.
The best defence against MMA is avoiding tick bites altogether.
Avoid 'ticky' areas in peak time times - Tick stages are seasonal, with larvae active during the autumn, nymphs in winter, and adults in the spring. The adult stage is the most dangerous, but any stage can lead to allergic reactions.
Avoid tick areas after rains or wet periods.
When you're heading into tick territory such as bushland, long grass or even suburban gardens, cover up with long sleeves and pants tucked into socks. Light-coloured clothing makes it easier to spot ticks before they attach.
Insect repellents containing DEET or picaridin work well against ticks. Apply them to exposed skin and clothing, paying special attention to areas where ticks love to hide behind ears, along hairlines and in skin folds.
After spending time outdoors, do a thorough tick check. Ticks can be as small as a poppy seed, so look carefully. Don't forget to check pets too, they're excellent at bringing ticks inside.
If you discover a tick attached to your skin, FREEZE DON’T SQUEEZE!
See: TiARA Profile
Sprays which contain ether, such as Tick Off, can be used to kill ticks in place, allowing them to be safely removed with fine-tipped forceps once dead. Ether is a chemical that rapidly freezes and dehydrates the tick, effectively killing it and reducing the risk of the tick injecting allergens or pathogens during removal.
Once removed, clean the bite area with antiseptic and wash your hands thoroughly. Never try to remove a tick with household tweezers, as this may squeeze allergen-containing saliva into your body and may increase the risk of a reaction. More information on safely removing ticks can be found here.
Related reports:
November 2025 report; NSW Inquest examining whether meat allergy caused by Tick Bites Caused teenagers death: Pittwater has Highest Number of people living with this allergy
Reducing Ticks in Your Garden: Garden care, Plants that Repel, What to Wear Outdoors
Ref: Coronial findings and recommendations | Coroners Court of New South Wales
