The abrupt cancellation of grants by the Trump administration late last month has two public health officials who track diseases on the Island working in limbo.
The abrupt cancellation of grants by the Trump administration late last month has two public health officials who track diseases on the Island working in limbo.
As alpha-gal syndrome rapidly spreads across the Vineyard, Island public health officials are hoping to gauge the public’s concern over the meat allergy and gather important information that could aid in future research.
In a new study, scientists say they found more infected ticks had fed on shrews, upending the common belief that white-footed mice were the main culprits.
In 2020, the hospital recorded just two confirmed cases of alpha-gal sensitivity. By 2022, the number had jumped to 77. This year, as of Sept. 30, the hospital had 365 positive cases.
A study published earlier this month in the entomology journal Insects delves into how lone star and deer ticks have co-existed since the rapid rise of lone stars, and what it could mean for the future.
In the first week of September, the hospital emergency room treated “approximately 20 cases of lesions that are consistent with tick larvae bites,” said Dr. Ellen McMahon, the hospital’s chief of medicine.