Tick boxes?
One internet user posted on their Facebook page: “People become allergic to meat after a single tick bite.”
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According to him, farmers in rural areas of the United States keep finding mysterious boxes with ticks, “and the infection rate reaches a level that many say they have never seen before (the speech remains uncorrected here – editor’s note).”
“Now these reports are confronted with documented genetically modified tick research funded by B. Gates, growing concerns about Alpha-Gal syndrome, and scientific articles openly stating that it would be ‘morally beneficial’ to spread meat allergy using modified tick populations.
Meanwhile, more than 450,000 Americans already suffer from Alpha-Gal syndrome after tick bites – an incurable disease that can cause severe allergic reactions to red meat,” he explained.
The internet user cited the well-known fake news website vigilantfox.com as the source of information.
Another internet user claimed that US Congressman Tim Burchett confirmed that B. Gates is “responsible for the huge increase in tick numbers.”
She also mentioned that some whistleblower said pilots are paid to release ticks from aircraft. The creatures are allegedly released from planes twice a year. The same boxes, supposedly containing millions of ticks, are also mentioned.
The woman quoted Republican US Congressman from Texas T. Burchett. He hinted on well-known podcaster Joe Rogan’s podcast that the conspiracy is related to B. Gates’ genetically engineered meat.
A woman calling herself a holistic medicine doctor said last month on social media that she spoke with several US farmers who allegedly found boxes with ticks on their plots. However, she provided no evidence to support her claims.
A group inspired by the US President Donald Trump’s administration initiative MAHA (Make America Healthy Again), called “MAHA Moms Coalition,” also shared these rumors and invited farmers to speak out.
B. Gates has previously been linked without any evidence to mosquito farms and numerous conspiracy theories.
Also read: Is there anything in common between Bill Gates, a mosquito farm, and a spraying helicopter?
Also read: From mass sterilization of women to the goal of turning the whole world vegan: how the strangest conspiracy theories about Bill Gates emerged
What is this syndrome?
The internet user mentions Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), although does not explain what it is. This syndrome is an allergic reaction to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal), not a disease as the internet user claimed. It is a sugar molecule found in the tissues of most mammals. It is not present in the human body, so some people’s immune systems start producing specific IgE antibodies against alpha-gal after a tick bite.
Later, after eating mammalian meat or encountering other alpha-gal-containing products, an allergic reaction may occur. It is important to understand that this is not a classic infectious tick-borne disease. It is an allergic condition whose onset is related to a tick bite and immune system reorganization.
It is believed that during a tick bite, the alpha-gal sugar molecule may enter the human body with its saliva. The immune system recognizes it as a foreign substance and starts producing antibodies. After such sensitization, some people may have an allergic reaction after consuming mammalian products, usually beef, pork, lamb, venison, or other red meats. Some patients may also react to gelatin, some dairy products, or certain medications.
However, AGS does not develop after every tick bite. Repeated bites may increase the risk of sensitization and maintain higher sensitivity once the disease has developed.
This is not an incurable disease, as the internet user claimed. Sensitization decreases over time in some patients, especially if new tick bites are avoided.
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Different tick species are associated with AGS in different parts of the world. In the United States, the main one is the Amblyomma americanum tick.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website states that more than 110,000 AGS cases were identified between 2010 and 2022. The exact number of such cases in the US is unknown, but up to 450,000 people may be affected by AGS.
How is this related to Gates?
The conspiracy theory about tick-induced allergy and somehow related B. Gates became popular on social media back in 2023. Internet users unjustifiably claimed that AGS is somehow linked to a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. However, the detail about boxes is a new fabrication.
First of all, there are no reliable reports or evidence that boxes with ticks are distributed from aircraft or by any other means in the United States. Such reports came from unreliable sources.
Climate change has created conditions for tick populations to grow in North America and elsewhere. Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University found in 2025 that the number of meat allergy cases related to ticks has sharply increased in the US.
The biotechnology company Oxitec (now renamed Flyttr) aims to address the most complex and deepening pest problems. One of its projects aims to reduce the spread of cattle ticks (Rhipicephalus microplus). This tick spreads diseases dangerous to livestock, causing significant losses to farmers.
The company is developing technology where males carrying a gene that causes their offspring to survive less and become adult ticks are released into the environment. The same technology is applied to other pests, such as mosquitoes.
An Oxitec representative explained to the news agency Associated Press that a scientific connection between AGS and their project is impossible.
Early company research was conducted in laboratories in the United Kingdom (UK), not in the wild with modified ticks. Oxitec studies the Asian blue tick, also called the cattle tick (Rhipicephalus microplus), and aims to reduce their population to protect livestock from diseases. These ticks have already been nearly eradicated in many parts of the US.
As emphasized Tufts University professor Sam Telford, who studies ticks and the diseases they spread, cattle ticks do not bite humans.
“Cattle ticks do not bite humans, so AGS is not related to genetically modified cattle ticks,” he stated.
A CDC representative said that available data clearly show that AGS in the United States is mostly associated with Amblyomma americanum ticks, not cattle ticks.
Scientists first described the link between AGS and tick bites in 2011 – ten years before the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided funding to the Oxitec project.
Previously, internet users mistakenly claimed that the Oxitec laboratory breeding mosquitoes belongs to B. Gates.
Also read: Does Bill Gates really own a mosquito farm? No, he only supported scientific research
15min verdict: false. AGS and the ticks that cause it are not related to B. Gates. The foundation owned by the philanthropist and his now ex-wife funds one program working with modified ticks, but this is a completely different tick species that does not bite humans and therefore cannot cause AGS. Stories about farmers finding boxes with ticks are not supported by any evidence.
Publication prepared by 15min in cooperation with Meta, aiming to stop the spread of misleading news on social media. More about the program and its rules – here.
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