Chigger Mites Inflict Unpleasant Skin Infections, Causing Itchy Red Bumps in Outdoor Areas
In the warmer months, small creatures known as chiggers can cause significant discomfort for those spending time outdoors. These tiny mite larvae, commonly found in humid, overgrown grassy areas, scrubby vegetation, and transitional zones between fields and paths, are a common problem in the Southern and Midwestern states of the United States.
**Where Chiggers Are Found**
Chiggers thrive in tall grass, brush, and moist, shaded areas, such as overgrown lawns, brushy or scrubby lands, leaf litter, and tall grass. They are also found in edges of trails and fields, areas near streams and moist soil, forest floors, and pollinator habitats.
**Prevention Strategies**
To avoid chigger bites and infestation, maintaining a well-kept yard is crucial. This includes keeping grass trimmed below 3 inches, removing leaf piles, trimming bushes, and pruning overgrown vegetation to reduce humid shelters. Improving air flow and increasing sun exposure by brush control and mowing, aerating soil, and applying barriers like 6-inch strips of gravel or mulch around lawn edges can also help.
Personal protection involves wearing long pants, long sleeves, and closed shoes or boots, tucking pants into boots and shirts into pants to block chiggers. Using permethrin-treated clothing and applying DEET (25-30%) or other effective insect repellents like picaridin or lemon-eucalyptus oil on exposed skin is also recommended. Avoid sitting directly on grass or ground in infested areas, and shower within two hours after exposure and wash clothing in hot water to remove chiggers.
**Treatment of Chigger Bites**
After bites, the primary symptoms are intense itching and red welts. Treatment typically involves soothing the itch with topical antihistamines, corticosteroid creams, calamine lotion, or oral antihistamines. If dermatitis worsens or spreads, consult a healthcare provider.
**Timing**
Start preventative yard cleanups by early spring to disrupt chigger habitats. Apply insecticides in early spring before peak chigger season, and perform fall cleanups to remove leaf litter where chiggers may overwinter.
When biting a human, chiggers insert their feeding structures into the skin and inject an enzyme that liquefies the tissue, creating a feeding tube called a stylostome. Chiggers are red in color and tend to cluster in groups on a person's skin. Chigger bites usually take between 1-3 weeks to heal. Chiggers in the U.S. are not known to carry or transmit diseases, but they do cause intense itching. If the bites are scratched, they may result in infection that can sometimes lead to fever.
If the bites become infected, a doctor may also prescribe antibiotics. Using a DEET or permethrin spray can help prevent chigger bites. A person should take a bath or shower when they realize they have chigger bites, as scrubbing with soap and water can help remove any remaining chiggers and prevent further bites. Over-the-counter anti-itch medications, such as hydrocortisone or calamine lotion, can help prevent a person from scratching chigger bites.
If using permethrin, people should treat their clothing 1-2 days in advance to allow them to dry before being worn in the wild. Contrary to popular belief, chiggers do not burrow into the skin, feed on a person's blood, or carry disease. Instead, they feed on human skin cells. An effective bug spray to use on clothing is permethrin, which kills chiggers as well as mosquitoes and ticks.
Chiggers are most common in the spring and fall months. If a chigger bite persists for a prolonged period of time, people may wish to speak with a doctor. Chiggers are very small, almost impossible to see with the naked eye, and resemble tiny spiders. Chiggers have delicate feeding structures and find it easier to penetrate a person's skin where there are wrinkles, folds, or where the skin is thinnest.
In summary, chiggers live mainly in tall grass, brush, and moist, shaded areas, and prevention focuses on yard maintenance, protective clothing, and use of repellents. Prompt washing after exposure and symptomatic treatment can relieve bites effectively.
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