Diagnosis

Doctors can diagnose alpha-gal syndrome using a combination of your personal history and certain medical tests.

Your doctor will likely start by asking about your exposure to ticks, your signs and symptoms, and how long it took for symptoms to develop after you ate red meat or other mammal products. He or she might also perform a physical exam.

Additional tests used in the evaluation of alpha-gal syndrome may include:

• Blood test. A blood test can confirm and measure the amount of alpha-gal antibodies in your bloodstream. This is the key test for diagnosis of alpha-gal syndrome.
• Skin test. Doctors prick your skin and expose it to small amounts of substances extracted from commercial or fresh red meat. If you're allergic, you develop a raised bump (hive) at the test site on your skin. Your doctor or allergist may also test your skin for an allergic reaction to individual types of red meat because there are different kinds of allergies to meat.