Federal testing data identify Suffolk County, New York, as having more suspected alpha-gal syndrome cases than any other county in the country, and the state health department still cannot say how many New Yorkers have the condition. Legislation that would change that cleared the Assembly in late May and the Senate on June 1, and it has not yet been signed into law.
The gap matters to families on Long Island in a way that is easy to miss. Alpha-gal syndrome is an allergy to a sugar molecule found in beef, pork, lamb, venison and many dairy products, and it can develop after a bite from a Lone Star tick. Reactions typically arrive two to six hours after eating, which is long enough that most people never connect the meal to the illness.
