Insect Handling and Allergies
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Insect Handling and Allergies DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY | LUND UNIVERSITY
2 INSECT HANDLING AND ALLERGIES
Cover photo: Dave Young, Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/dcysurfer/2245864108/INSECT HANDLING AND ALLERGIES 3
Recommendations of the HMS-committee* at Dept. Biology, Lund University concerning
insect handling and insect allergies.
[*The Committee för Health, Environment and Safety]
INTRODUCTION system should be designed so air extracted from these
Work on insects may only be performed in rooms specially rooms will not enter other premises such as offices and
designated for it. In insects rooms were allergenic insects other labs.
are handled there should be a sign posted outside saying: • Cultivation-/storage rooms and cages must be construc-
”NOTE! Allergy risk. Work with insects present in this room. ted so that they can be properly cleaned. One should not
Use special protective clothing and footwear, preferably also keep too many insects in the same cage/box and you
filtering half mask and tight fitting goggles. Designated clea- should also think about what type of container to use,
ning equipment shall be kept in this room only.” to reduce the risk of allergen spread.
• Suitable material in cages for flying insects, such as but-
HANDLING terflies, is soft walls of thin cloth or plastic. These can
• Everyone who works with insects (which are classified as be easily replaced and also the spread of scales from the
experimental animals according to AFS 1990:11), should wings becomes lower when the butterflies fly around in
work in such a way as to avoid inhaling or being exposed this type of cage. If you use plastic boxes with lids for
to insect allergens, ie. ”insect particles” (scales, hair, skin butterfly culturing, these should be soaked thoroughly
fragments, faeces etc.). inside before you take off the cover for washing, etc., to
• Work with allergenic insects or insect specimen should avoid spreading a lot of scales in the room. You can also
be done at a ventilated workplace, such as point source use a spray bottle with water to to spray the waste if it
ventilation, exhaust bench or fume cupboard. releases a lot of particles into the air, and in addition put
• Use lab coat and gloves and keep them in the insect wet towel on top of the waste. The sink should be in the
facility to avoid spreading of particles to other areas. same room as where the insect equipment is cleaned to
Put used coats in a special labelled laundry bag. Wash avoid transportation in corridors.
them often. • If you work with orthopteras (grasshoppers, locusts,
• Use an adhesive mat at the entrance, or special shoes crickets) their faeces are highly allergenic, especially
in the facility. when dry. Again, wet the boxes before washing to de-
• Insects to be dissected in the lab should be moved there crease the amount of dust in the room.
in closed containers. To avoid unnecessary allergen pro- • During waste handling and cleaning of equipment
liferation avoid having too many insects in the same containing dust from insects, use lab coat, gloves and
container. preferrably also filtering half mask and googles.
• During dissection try to hold the insects so it doesn’t • Particle filtering half masks, also called lightweight respi-
spread dusty particles, and put a wet paper underneath rators, must be of class FFP2. They come with or without
to catch particles. vent in boxes of ten. Put up the box on the wall. Mark
• During behavioural experiments indoors limit the personal masks with your name. If you have an allergy,
amount of allergen in the air by reducing the number see more below, under ”allergy”.
of insects at the same time or keeping them in an app-
ropriate cage. INHALATION ALLERGY RISKS
• Use lab coat and gloves also when you feed other ani- The recommendations above concerns insects in general,
mals with insects. some insects spread less allergenic than others. In general
• For work with hymenopteras with venomous stingers there are much less problems with insects which have a hard
(wasps, bees, bumblebees), see the special paragraph cuticle, like adult beetles, than insects with soft cuticle (like
below. butterflies or mayflies).
A risk assessment should be done before any work with
CULTIVATION AND STORAGE insects, ie. examining if there is anything reported about the
• Cultivation and storage of insects should be done in species involved or if they can be considered as ”low risk”
dedicated rooms with good ventilation. The ventilation insects.4 INSECT HANDLING AND ALLERGIES
The allergy clinic (”Allergimottagningen”) at the hospital Detailed instructions what to wear and how to behave are in
shall be able to perform a test on the person with suspected the pdf document linked above.
insect allergy. The University Occupational Health Services Existing medication should be personal so that the user is
(”Företagshälsovården”) can provide a referral there if you familiar with the preparations purpose and expected effect.
contact them first. The allergy clinic should have access to You should also do an allergy test to see if you are at high
screening preparations containing butterfly scale extracts or risk. If you have developed an allergy, contact the allergy clinic
other allergens, and can inform about various symptoms of for a prescription of special adrenaline injection or -spray to
allergy: have available when working with wasps.
• Running or itching nose. Always contact a co-worker immediately if you have been
• Eyes that are red, swollen, draining or itch. stung and go to the emergency room at the hospital!
• Skin that itch, crack, produces blisters or blush.
• Lungs / neck aches, gives rales, coughing, etc.
ALLERGY SUFFERERS
People who work with allergenic insects that have already
developed insect allergy should;
• Work in ventilated workplace. Exhaust bench recom-
mended.
• Use coat, gloves and tight fitting goggles.
• Use filter mask with protection class P2 (FFP2) when you
enter the insect lab. Masks should be stored in closed
containers when not in use, to avoid contamination and
be personal. Mark it with your name but do not use the
same mask for a long time but change frequently.
• Use separate protective clothing for cultivation and
storage.
• Substitution of other tasks may be the only solution for
people with severe insect allergy.
Some insects reported to cause sensitization by inhalation:
Order Example
Silverfish (Zygentoma) Silverfish
Orthopterans (Orthoptera) Crickets, grasshop-
pers, locusts
Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) Mayflies
Cockroaches (Blattodea) Cockroaches
True Bugs (Hemiptera) Scale insects
Flies (Diptera) Houseflies,fruit flies
Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) Almost all moths
and butterflies
Beetles (Coleoptera) Cereal weevils
Caddisflies (Trichoptera) Caddisflies
Hymenopteras (Hymenoptera) Bees, bumblebees,
wasps
WORKING WITH STINGING INSECTS
For those who will be working with live wasps, bees, bum-
bleebees or other insects with venomous sting there is a
special document, which should be read carefully and sign
to prove you understand the instructions before starting the Based on a document in Swedish (www.biologi.lu.se/vem-
work. Everyone in the Department of Biology who works with goer-vad/arbetsmiljoe/insektsarbete) produced by Carina
stinging insects are encouraged to use this document (pdf). Rasmussen and Erling Jirle, Department of Biology, Lund
Hymenopteras such as bees, wasps and bumblebees have University, January 2013.
stingers, which can develop into different types of allergies Examined by Åsa Gustafson, LU Estates and Dr. Hans Wirje,
if you get stung, at worst life-threatening reactions (anaphy- Lund University Occupational Health Services.
lactic shock). Translated into English by Erling Jirle, 10 Oct 2013.Lund University | Department of Biology | Text: Erling Jirle, Layout: Inger Ekström. October 18, 2013
www.biologi.lu.se/internt LUND UNIVERSITY
Ecology building
223 62 Lund
046-2223812--046-2227315
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