Missouri state representative aiming to raise awareness of tick-borne illnesses

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Missouri House Bill 986 would require local health departments to report cases of Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome to the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services. The bill was introduced by Representative Matthew Overcast of district 155.

Rep. Overcast’s 11-year-old daughter, Lyla, says she began having symptoms last summer.

“I was tired all the time and like sometimes I would rash up, like on my arms and legs and stuff,” Lyla said. “And it burned.”

Rep. Overcast says doctors couldn’t figure out what was making his daughter sick.

“They thought she had some serious health conditions, and so we were chasing those down,” Rep. Overcast said.

The Overcast family was told Lyla may have cancer, but nothing appeared on any scans or X-rays. One doctor they saw suggested it might be alpha-gal syndrome, which was confirmed by a blood test.

Alpha-gal syndrome is most commonly spread by the Lone Star tick and causes an allergy to red meat and dairy. Lyla says cutting these food groups out of her diet was difficult.

“It made me kind of sad because I want to eat ice cream,” Lyla said. “And also my favorite food was burgers, so I couldn’t eat that anymore.”

Rep. Overcast says he didn’t know much about alpha-gal before his daughter was diagnosed.

“We started digging into it and talking to people,” Rep. Overcast said. “More and more people that we talked to had it. Since writing this bill, it’s really kind of blown up and brought more light to the fact that it’s a significant problem.”

House Bill 986 has been referred to the Health and Mental Health Committee. It’s now up to the chair to decide whether the committee should vote to bring the bill to the house floor.

Rep. Overcast says collecting data on tick-borne illnesses would pave the way for increased awareness and research.

“We as lawmakers can hopefully make some changes in healthcare resources not only to the education side of things, but also to foster more research,” Rep. Overcast said. “There’s just not enough known about it.”

For Lyla, raising awareness for alpha-gal syndrome is bigger than she is.

“I’m not the only one out there. There’s many other people like there’s a couple kids in my school and there’s adults too” Lyla said. “So by sharing my story, I can help other people too.”

This past Tuesday, April 1, Rep. Overcast and Lyla were in Jefferson City testifying on the bill. It could be referred to the house floor within the next few weeks.

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