Worrying theory emerges after boy, 16, dies moments after eating sausages
A inquest into the death of a teenage boy who died during a camping trip with his pals has revealed a worrying theory about what may have caused it.
Jeremy Webb, 16, suddenly passed away in June 2022 while he was enjoying the great outdoors with three friends in New South Wales, Australia. The lads had sent up camp at MacMasters Beach before cooking beef sausages for their dinner - and a short time after eating them, Jeremy began to feel unwell.
By 11pm that evening, he was struggling to breathe, prompting his pals to run to a nearby caravan as they searched for help. But the schoolboy then collapsed and despite his mates providing CPR until emergency services arrived, he passed away at Gosford Hospital just 90 minutes later.
Initially, Jeremy's cause of death was attributed to asthma, but fresh information has since come to light about his health during a coronial inquest Down Under.
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His heartbroken mother, Myfanwy Webb, suspects that an incident that took place when her son was just two years old may have led to his death more than a decade later.
She explained that Jeremy was repeatedly bitten by ticks while camping in bushland as a toddler, and in wake of this, he began to have adverse reactions after eating red meat.
Myfanwy said that her son would vomit and struggle to breathe after eating his dinner, to the point that his asthma inhaler wouldn't provide any relief.
The mum has now told how she suspected that a tick-borne illness - a mammalian meat allergy - could be to blame, but couldn't find 'much information' on the condition when she first looked into it.
However, an expert at a coronial inquest into Jeremy's death has since posthumously diagnosed the teen with the food allergy, which is also known as alpha-gal syndrome (AGS).
According to health boffins at the Mayo Clinic, the life-threatening condition can appear after a person suffers a tick bite. It explains that it causes 'mild to intense allergies to red meat', including beef, pork or lamb, as well as other animal products such as dairy and gelatine.
Symptoms of a mammalian meat allergy usually take hold between two to six hours after you consume food with the alpha-gal molecule - and these include hives, itching, swelling, wheezing or shortness of breath, stomach pain, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.
Mayo Clinic also warns that it can trigger a serious allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis. Symptoms of this include breathing difficulties, a fast, weak pulse and feeling dizzy or lightheaded.
The inquest heard last week that Jeremy had died of a combination of either a severe allergic reaction or anaphylaxis and an acute asthma attack, while further investigation into whether his last meal played a part is now underway.
If the condition is found to be tied to Jeremy's death, it could be the first-ever case of its kind in Australia.
New South Wales Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes is expected to hand down her findings by the end of the year.
"Jeremy's death [could be] the first death from mammalian meat allergy after eating meat that I'm aware of in Australia," Maria Said, the health strategy manager at Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia, told ABC.
The late teenager's mother has said that she now hopes that the coroner's latest findings will raise awareness of the tick-borne illness.
"I think Jeremy would be so proud of this inquest about his death," Myfanwy added. "If it saves one more life, then that's a win, a huge win."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when a tick bites a human, it can 'transfer alpha-gal from its saliva into a person's blood'.
"The body's natural defences, or immune system, can identify alpha-gal as a threat and trigger an allergic reaction," it explains.
"While AGS is caused by tick bites, more research is needed to understand the role of ticks in this condition. The reason why certain people develop AGS and others do not is not known."
Experts say that the best way to prevent it is to take every effort to avoid being bitten by a tick.
Topics: Animals, Australia, Food And Drink, Health, World News
Olivia Burke