Insect handling

Risk assessment

There should be a risk assessment and instructions that either show how you can work in a healthy way or what measures you need to take.

A risk assessment should examine whether there is anything reported about these insects such as allergy risks, other infection risks or whether they can be considered ‘low risk’ insects. If the risk assessment shows that there may be a risk of allergens or infection, a clear handling document should be produced for the work. For example, the risks may be present in an experiment in a setup you are going to carry out or when you are cultivating insects. The handling document should show what actions you need to take to work in a healthy way. Recurrent work can have the same management document.

If you are handling insects that you know can spread infection via bites, vector-borne or insect-borne infections should be investigated further. Lyme disease and granulocytic anaplasmosis are examples of vector infections where ticks are the vector (5,26). Even common house flies can spread microorganisms.

Introduction

Work on insects may only be performed in rooms specially designated for it. In insects rooms where allergenic insects are handled, there should be a sign posted outside saying:

”NOTE! Allergy risk. Work with insects present in this room. Use special protective clothing and footwear, preferably also filtering half mask and tight-fitting goggles. Designated cleaning equipment shall be kept in this room only.”

Handling

• Everyone who works with insects, should work in such a way as to avoid inhaling or being exposed to insect allergens, that is ”insect particles” (scales, hair, skin fragments or faeces).
• Work with allergenic insects or insect specimens should be done at a ventilated workplace, such as point source ventilation, exhaust bench or fume cupboard.
• Use lab coats and gloves and keep them in the insect facility to avoid spreading particles to other areas. Put used coats in a special labelled laundry bag. Wash them often.
• Use an adhesive mat at the entrance or special shoes in the facility.
• Insects to be dissected in the lab should be moved there in closed containers. To avoid unnecessary allergen proliferation avoid having too many insects in the same container.
• During dissection try to hold the insects so it doesn’t spread dusty particles, and put wet paper underneath to catch particles.
• During behavioural experiments indoors limit the amount of allergen in the air by reducing the number of insects at the same time or keeping them in an appropriate cage.
• Use lab coats and gloves also when you feed other animals with insects.
• Special rules apply for work with hymenopterans with venomous stingers like wasps, bees, and bumblebees.

Cultivation and storage

• Cultivation and storage of insects should be done in dedicated rooms with good ventilation. The ventilation system should be designed so air extracted from these rooms will not enter other premises such as offices and other labs.
• Cultivation-/storage rooms and cages must be constructed so that they can be properly cleaned. One should not keep too many insects in the same cage/box and you should also think about what type of container to use, to reduce the risk of allergen spread.
• Suitable material in cages for flying insects, such as butterflies, is soft walls of thin cloth or plastic. These can be easily replaced and also the spread of scales from the wings becomes lower when the butterflies fly around in this type of cage. If you use plastic boxes with lids for butterfly culturing, these should be soaked thoroughly inside before you take off the cover for washing, to avoid spreading a lot of scales in the room. You can also use a spray bottle with water to spray the waste if it releases a lot of particles into the air, and in addition, put a wet towel on top of the waste. The sink should be in the same room as where the insect equipment is cleaned to avoid transportation in corridors.
• If you work with orthopterans (grasshoppers, locusts, crickets) their faeces are highly allergenic, especially when dry. Again, wet the boxes before washing to decrease the amount of dust in the room.
• During waste handling and cleaning of equipment containing dust from insects, use lab coat, gloves and preferably also filtering half mask and goggles.
• Filter masks must be of type FFP2 (particle filter mask, all FFP2 masks are covered from 1 Jan 2025 by the Swedish Work Environment Authority's new requirements for fit testing) Everyone must have a personal mask and it must be tested. Contact Elisabeth Gauger (contact information on the Staff Pages).

Inhalation allergy risks

The recommendations above concern insects in general, some insects spread less allergenic than others. In general, there are much fewer problems with insects which have hard cuticles, like adult beetles, than insects with soft cuticles (like butterflies or mayflies).

A risk assessment should be done before any work with insects, that is examining if there is anything reported about the species involved or if they can be considered as ”low risk” insects.

Contact the Occupational Health Service (Staff Pages) for further advice and possible referral to another healthcare provider. The allergy clinic (”Allergimottagningen”) at the hospital shall be able to perform a test on the person with a suspected insect allergy. The allergy clinic should have access to screening preparations containing butterfly scale extracts or other allergens, and can inform about various symptoms of allergy:

• Running or itching nose.
• Eyes that are red, swollen, draining or itching.
• Skin that itch, crack, produces blisters or blush.
• Lungs/neck aches, gives rales, coughing, etc.

Allergy sufferers

Persons working with allergenic insects who have already formed an allergy to insects should undergo a health examination at the occupational health centre.

If the person still has to work, the following measures are recommended:

• Work in a ventilated workplace. Exhaust bench recommended.
• Use a coat and gloves for all handling of insects.
• Use safety glasses, preferably with sealed sides.
• Consider wearing a cap to reduce the risk of getting butterfly scales in your hair.
• Use a suitable filter mask with protection factor P2, that is a FFP2 particle filter mask, if you are going to enter a cultivation/storage room. Mask should be stored in a closed container when not in use, to avoid contamination and it should be personalised. Mark the mask with your name. Do not use the same mask for a long time but change often.
• Substitution of other tasks may be the only solution for people with a severe insect allergy.

Some insects reported causing sensitisation by inhalation

• Order Example Silverfish (Zygentoma) – Silverfish
• Orthopterans (Orthoptera) – Crickets, grasshoppers, 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

Further reading

More about insect allergies can be found at:

• Wikipedia (in Swedish)
• 1177 (in Swedish)
• Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

More about laboratory animals can be found at:

• Staff Pages
• Faculty of Medicine
• Swedish Board of Agriculture

Produced by Carina Rasmussen and Erling Jirle, Department of Biology, Lund University, January 2013. Examined by Åsa Gustafson, LU Estates and Dr Hans Wirje, Lund University Occupational Health Services. Updated January 2025.