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Representative Overcast urges alpha-gal reporting after family's delayed diagnosis; parents and public health experts testify
Summary
Representative Overcast introduced House Bill 986 to make alpha-gal syndrome and Lyme disease reportable to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services; patients, clinicians and epidemiologists urged mandatory reporting and provider education at a lengthy public hearing.
Representative Overcast, sponsor of House Bill 986, told the committee the bill “requires the state ... Department of Health and Senior Services [to receive] cases, diagnosed cases of alpha gal.” He said the intention is to document prevalence and hotspots, improve clinician education and guide resource allocation.
Overcast described his family's experience: his daughter spent more than a year undergoing tests before a clinician suggested testing for alpha-gal syndrome; after diagnosis she stopped reacting when the diet was changed. He told the committee that he has since learned of multiple local families with diagnoses and said reporting would allow policymakers to “document the presence of alpha-gal … monitor the trends in the pattern and spread.”
His daughte…
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