An Encounter with Chiggers

When it gets too hot to sleep in a tent and you are on a summer campout in the center of America or if you walk thru the grass in the warm wet states beware of the bite of the chigger. To avoid some miserable itching keep your shoes on. Sorry, sandals don't cut it. This year is especially right for large populations of the little pests.

Sometimes it is impossible to avoid the Chigger after all the grass looks fine for walking on and even with a close look sometimes there aren't any little bugs visible. What the heck -- how bad can they be? They are after all just little, tiny insects, so why stay on the side walk?

Thats what I thought so this summer while camping in Illinois my son decided it was too hot to sleep in the tent and in the middle of the night he left the relatively little security of the tent and laid on the nice cool grass. Accompanying this article is a picture of his foot two days later. You can imagine what the rest of him looks like. If you were to ask him how the camping trip was, his answer would be "torturous" and indeed it was. So what can be done to find relief from the misery of hundred's or even thousands of chigger bites?

Taking a bath or shower as soon as possible after encountering chiggers is a must. The chigger larvae will walk around for a while before beginning their feast on a host. Showering and changing clothes can remove them. It is a myth that they burrow in and drink blood. They actually eat skin cells and the skin reaction is due to an enzyme they use in their digestion of the skin. Applying an over the counter anti-itch medication such as hydrocortisone or calamine lotion or camphor can bring some relief. Sometimes it may be necessary to take oral Benadryl or to get a prescription strength steroid cream when the bites are real bad. Mosquito bites don't compare to the bite of the chigger. Chigger bites can last for weeks and often become infected. Scratching makes the itching worse.

For more information on the chigger check out http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/avoid-outdoor-pests/chiggers

I really wish I had read about the chigger before our encounter.