Can moths make you sick?

[Michael Gochfeld]

This is an interesting case from several perspectives: 
1. One likely diagnosis is that the symptoms had nothing to do with the 
moth. Allergic or irritant symptoms are fairly common. But if they are 
symptoms that the person has never or rarely had before, then the 
temporal association with the moth intake is more suspicious. 

2. It is also possible that something else associated with the "mothing" 
activity is the cause of the symptoms. 

3. It seems highly unlikely that a virus or other infectious agent on a 
moth, could infect a human. 

4. Proteinaceous material of insects can be allergenic, and if this is a 
familiar moth that one has been exposed to in the past, it could 
actually be an allergic reaction to the moth.

5. Other insects (particularly beetles) have noxious secretions that 
could elicit such symptoms, but I've never heard moths implicated. 

A reasonable scientific approach would be to try to find the same kind 
of moth and repeat the exposure.  See if the same symptoms occur and if 
they occur sooner (which often happens with allergic symptoms). On the 
other hand, if they are allergic, then a serious anaphylactic reaction 
could occur, hence this experiment is not entirely without risk. 

M. Gochfeld