Share thisIn the last ten years, there has been a considerable increase in demand for insectaries in laboratories, particularly in the government sector. This article will explore the reasons behind the increase in demand, the guidelines used to design these facilities, and the common characteristics and details of design.
What is the significance of insectaries in research? There are many factors that contribute to the steady increase in diseases worldwide. Those factors include: an increase in global population, reduction of the rain forests, dramatic climate shifts, and the lack of properly engineered clean and waste water systems. Currently, very few vaccines have been developed for many of these diseases.
That said, insectaries in research facilities provide safe housing and laboratory space for the study of arthropods and the diseases that they carry. Arthropods, the largest phylum of animals (about 80% of all animals), include over a million species of insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. All are characterized by a segmented body with appendages on each segment and a hard exoskeleton.
We typically use the word insectary for arthropod facilities and that includes insects and arachnids but usually not crustaceans. It also does not usually include drosophila. Crustaceans are normally included with others that are reared in aquariums.
This article will address arthropods that act as disease vectors such as mosquitoes, tsetse flies, black flies, sand flies, midges, reduvids, lice, fleas, ticks, and mites. Arthropods are vectors for many diseases, including leishmaniasis, malaria, dengue fever, Chagas disease, Q fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever, Lyme disease, and bluetongue virus.