After posting treatment for ticks and offering to do the same for
chiggers I received several requests for the information on chiggers.
As we are all outdoors and prone to these pests (in addition to many
others) I thought it might be worth sharing with the LIST.
 
The information that follows is excerpted from: CHIGGERS!, Nina
Bicknese, THE MISSOURI CONSERVATIONIST, August, 1990, Volume 51,
Number 8, pages 2 - 5.
 
Chigger facts:
 
-Chiggers are not a 'bug'.  They are the juvenile (or larval) form of
a mite "Trombi-culidae" and belong to the arachnid family.
-Chiggers are tiny, almost invisible to the unaided eye, less than
1/150 of an inch in diameter.
-Chiggers are small enough to penetrate the meshes of your clothing,
but they usually stay on the surface of your clothes until they come
to an easy opening.
-Chiggers are born red; they do not become red from feeding on blood.
An engorged, well fed chigger changes to a yellow color.
-Chiggers do not burrow under the skin and die within the tissues.
There are pests in southern states such as the jigger flea or chigoe
which to attack by burrowing under the skin.
-Chiggers DO bite, by inserting mouth parts much like ticks.  Usually
at skin pores or hair follicles.
-Women and children get more chigger bites than men.  Men, women and
children all collect the same number of chiggers on a walk; women and
children thinner skin and are more easily bit.
-Chiggers are most active when the ground temperature is between 77
and 86 degrees.  They become inactive when substrate temperatures fall
below 60 degrees and are killed below 42 degrees.
 
"The reason the bite itches so intensely and for such a long time is
because the chigger injects saliva into its vicitm after attaching to
the skin.  this saliva contains a powerful digestive enzyme that
literally dissolves the skin cells it contacts.  It is this liquified
tissue, never blood, that the chigger ingests and uses for food.
 
A chigger usually goes unnoticed for one to three hours after it
starts feeding.  During this period the chigger quietly injects its
digestive saliva.  After a few hours your skin reacts by hardening the
cells on all sides of the saliva path, eveantually forming a hard
tubelike structure called a stylostome.
 
The stylostome walls off the corrosive saliva, but it also functions
liake a feeding tube for the hungry chigger.  The chigger sits with
its mouthparts attached to the stylostome, and like a person drinking
a milkshake through a straw, it sucks up you liquified tissue.  Left
undisturbed, the chigger continues alternately injecting saliva  into
the bite and sucking up liquid tissue.
 
It is the stylosome that irritates and inflames the surrounding tissue
and causes the characteristic red welt and intense itch."
 
Prevention/Treatment:
 
-Wear tightly woven socks, long pants, long sleeve shirts and high
shoes or boots.  When you get home, change your clothes as soon as
possible.
-Regular mosquito repellants will repel chiggers.  Apply them around
openings in your clothes, such as cuffs, waistbands, shirt fronts and
boot tops.  Re-apply every two to three hours.
Sulphur is the most effective chigger repellant.  Powdered sulphur,
called sublimed sulphur or flowers of sulphur can be dusted in the
same areas the mosquito repellant is applied.
-Take a warm, soapy bath with plenty of scrubbing as soon as possible
after exposure.
-Warm soapy water is all that is necessary to remove and kill
chiggers.  There is no need to apply kerosene, turpentine, ammonia,
alcohol, gasoline, salt or dry cleaning fluid.
-Attached chiggers are removed by even the lightest rubbing.  If you
are away from civilization, frequent rubbing with a towel or cloth can
remove attached chiggers before they do much damage.
-No lotions are completely effective in releiving the itching.  The
only ultimate cure is time.  You can do nothing to dislodge the
feeding tube, the true cause of your itch.
-Local anesthetics, such as, benzocaine, camphor-phenol and ammonioum
hydroxide may provide you with several hours of relief.
-Nail polish dabbed on the welt will not smother the chigger as it has
not burrowed into your skin and probably fell off hours of scratching
ago.
-Chronic scratching will only further irritate the stylostome and
probably cause secondary infection.
 
Sorry for the length.  This was basically a synopsis of the article
which was very inteesting reading.
 
Good luck and happy beekeeping.
 
-- John Taylor --
Wild Rose Creek Apiary
Southeast Missouri
 
When in danger, or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!