• Question: Do insects have allergies ?

    Asked by anon-241493 to Ross, Ellie on 11 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Ross Alexander

      Ross Alexander answered on 11 Mar 2020:

      i think i am going to let ellie answer this one as i am not 100% sure. I am going to say no as i believe that insects do not have the parts of the immune system that help promote allergies. Their immune system is much simpler than our one. But i am not sure

    • Photo: Eleanor Spence

      Eleanor Spence answered on 12 Mar 2020:

      Nice question!

      Insects have a much simpler immune system than us humans so they do not get allergies but they do have a response to harmful substances.

      They may change their behaviour firstly to avoid the thing that is bothering them. If a virus, bacteria or other disease causing pathogen enters their body, they release the equivalent of antibodies into their blood (or hemolymph) to attack the invader.

      Like Ross said, they have a much simpler immune system than us!

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