Information on chiggers: Chiggers Information | Mount Sinai

12.09.202322.06.2023 by alexxlab

Chiggers Information | Mount Sinai

Harvest mite; Red mite

Chiggers are tiny, 6-legged wingless organisms (larvae) that mature to become a type of mite. Chiggers are found in tall grass and weeds. Their bite causes severe itching.

Chigger bites are caused by the larvae of the chigger. The bite produces blisters (vesicles) and bleeding into the skin (purpura). These bites itch intensely and are usually located on exposed areas of the skin where the chigger larvae have access. This photograph demonstrates vesicle formation following the bites.

Causes

Chiggers are found in certain outdoor areas, such as:

Berry patches
Tall grass and weeds
Edges of woodlands

Chiggers bite humans around the waist, ankles, or in warm skin folds. Bites commonly occur in the summer and fall months.

Symptoms

The main symptoms of chigger bites are:

Severe itching
Red pimple-like bumps or hives

Itching usually occurs several hours after the chiggers attach to the skin. The bite is painless.

A skin rash may appear on the parts of the body that were exposed to the sun. It may stop where the underwear meets the legs. This is often a clue that the rash is due to chigger bites.

Exams and Tests

Your health care provider can usually diagnose chiggers by examining the rash. You’ll likely be asked about your outdoor activity. A special magnifying scope may be used to find the chiggers on the skin. This helps confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment

The goal of treatment is to stop the itching. Antihistamines and corticosteroid creams or lotions may be helpful. Antibiotics are not necessary unless you develop a skin infection.

Possible Complications

A secondary infection may occur from scratching.

When to Contact a Medical Professional

Contact your provider if the rash itches very badly, or if your symptoms get worse or do not improve with treatment.

Prevention

Avoid outdoor areas that you know are contaminated with chiggers. Applying bug spray containing DEET to skin and clothing can help prevent chigger bites.

Diaz JH. Mites, including chiggers. In: Bennett JE, Dolin R, Blaser MJ, eds. Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 295.

James WD, Elston DM, Treat JR, Rosenbach MA, Neuhaus IM. Parasitic infestations, stings, and bites. In: James WD, Elston DM, Treat JR, Rosenbach MA, Neuhaus IM, eds. Andrews’ Diseases of the Skin. 13th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 20.

Last reviewed on: 12/4/2022

Reviewed by: Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Associate in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

Chiggers | Missouri Department of Conservation

Media

Scientific Name

Trombicula alfreddugesi and other Trombicula spp. (syn. Eutrombicula)

Family

Trombiculidae (chiggers), in the order Actinedida, in the class Arachnida

Description

Chiggers are extremely tiny, and it is very unlikely you will “see” one unless you are looking for them. You will need a hand lens or microscope to see them well. Their presence is best known, instead, by the intensely itchy welts they leave behind, usually where your skin is thin and tender (ankles, backs of knees, about the crotch, under the beltline, and in the armpits) and where tight clothing proves an obstacle to them (as where a belt or elastic band limits their wanderings). (Mosquito bites, by contrast, are usually in exposed places where those flying insects can easily land.) Chigger bites sometimes have a tiny red dot at the center, which is the remains of a scablike tube your body formed in response to the chigger’s irritating saliva.

Larval chiggers are red and have 6 legs. A cluster of them can sometimes be seen on your skin because of their reddish color. Chiggers are red, but not from dining on blood as many people think. After a blood meal, chiggers look yellowish. Adult chiggers have 8 legs and look like several other types of mites.

Size

Diameter (larvae): less than 1/150 inch; adults: about 1/60 inch.

Where To Find

Statewide

Chiggers survive best in brushy, grassy, or weedy areas that retain some moisture during the day. Their distribution within an area is patchy. They are most active in afternoons and when the ground temperature is about 77-86F. They become inactive below 60F, and the ones that bite us are killed below 42F. Chiggers avoid objects hotter than 99F. Sun-baked rocks are usually chigger-free.

Chiggers eat different foods at their different life stages. It is the larval stage that is parasitic. Their primary hosts are reptiles and birds, with mammals (including people) secondary, almost accidental hosts. They seek tender skin, attach to the surface, inject a saliva containing a digestive enzyme and drink the dissolved skin tissue. Your body responds to this with an itchy allergic reaction. Adult chiggers are not parasitic and feed on various plant materials and other small arthropods.

Common. Fortunately, chiggers (in North America, at least) are not known to be disease vectors for humans. Apart from the insanely itchy welts they leave behind, they are not nearly as harmful as ticks and mosquitoes can potentially be. By educating yourself about ways to avoid being bitten, and the best ways to treat their bites, you can sidestep and survive Missouri’s chiggers.

Life Cycle

Chiggers begin life as eggs, usually laid in leaf litter on the ground. They hatch as 6-legged, bright red larvae that are less than 1/150 inch in diameter and are therefore practically microscopic. The larvae seek a suitable host and begin feeding. If they complete their meal, that is the end of their parasitism. They drop to the ground and molt into nymphs before a final molt turns them into 8-legged adults, whose purpose is to mate and lay eggs.

Protect your skin by wearing tightly woven clothes that cover as much of your body as possible with minimal openings, applying insect repellents, and bathing soon after exposure.

Parasites harm but do not kill their hosts. The injury they cause and the diseases they can carry, if combined with illness, old age or injury, can play a role in limiting populations of their host species. Other small animals, such as pseudoscorpions, rely on chiggers and other mites for food.

Image

Caption

One of the down sides of Missouri summers is chiggers. They are nearly invisible but leave itchy red welts. Avoid their habitat areas, especially after noon.

Credit

Hansell F. Cross, Georgia State University, Bugwood.org

Right to Use

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About Land Invertebrates in Missouri

Invertebrates are animals without backbones, including earthworms, slugs, snails, and arthropods. Arthropods—invertebrates with “jointed legs” — are a group of invertebrates that includes crayfish, shrimp, millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, and insects. There may be as many as 10 million species of insects alive on earth today, and they probably constitute more than 90 percent all animal species.

Digging | it’s… What is digging?

Digger in a sewerage collector under construction in Kaliningrad

People who engage in digging are called diggers .

1 About diggers
2 Russian Diggers
3 Slang
4 Images, multimedia
5 See also
6 Links
7 Notes

About Diggers

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Do not confuse digging with speleology (the study of caves and cavities of natural origin) and spelestology (the study of caves, quarries and catacombs made by man in rocks). Diggers are engaged in the study of underground structures built by man using building materials and technologies, for example, drainage systems, sewers, underground rivers. As well as underground military facilities (abandoned). The search for ghost stations of the Moscow Metro and the D-6 (Metro-2) system is also very popular.

But essentially diggerism is a subsection of spelestology, amateur spelestology. Although many diggers deny the connection with this kind of research, arguing that it kills a touch of mystery.

Very often, digging is associated with various kinds of dangers, therefore it is considered a hobby mainly for the male part of the youth, but girls are also not rare guests of the dungeons. Diggers are interested in almost all underground structures – bomb shelters (both abandoned and functioning), basements, underground rivers and communications, old mines, metro tunnels and metro construction. Diggers show particular interest in ancient buildings and their arrangement.

Do not forget: such penetration into various closed objects is prosecuted by law. For the most part, this applies to metro and metro construction facilities, as well as to various structures that are on the balance sheet of the RF Ministry of Defense.

Legislation of other countries is more loyal to diggers. Thus, Ukrainian law enforcement officials are usually indifferent to the penetration of diggers into city communications, unless these penetrations are accompanied by obvious violations of the law and are not associated with an obvious danger to others. There is an opinion that objects that are interesting for diggers exist only in large cities and metropolitan areas, but it is erroneous. Cities of regional and even district subordination can sometimes boast of objects that are quite interesting for diggers.

Russian diggers

Most Russian diggers (this is their difference from foreign ones) have a tradition of “blurring” or painting over their faces in photographs (which is usually useless, because everyone knows each other) in order to prevent the police from using them portraits for their own purposes.

Slang

Russian diggers have their own slang:

Aboriginal – a local resident.
Chatterbox – bolt cutter (reinforcement shears).
bomber, bomb – bomb shelter.
VadMikh – Vadim Mikhailov.
Vsha – Ventilation Shaft.
Condom, baking sheet – gas mask.
Germa, hermukha – hermetic door (hermetic door).
Airtight window – airtight door of the ventilation system.
GorKal – sewer collector.
Swag – property or some artifact that can be carried away from the object. Most often, swag includes chemical protection, gas masks, AI-2, equipment, laboratory glassware, maps, diagrams, bags, sensors, etc.
Casting – penetration into the investigated object.
Climb – an inconspicuous passage to an object bypassing an alarm or an inaccessible entrance.
Fuse – the fuse is the detection of diggers on the object.
Climb fuse – a climb fuse is an action that leads to the elimination of re-penetration of an object (installation of sensors or cameras, welding of gratings, backfilling of passages, concreting of mine shafts).
Dachlo – a sensor installed by the guards.
Red cap, red forage cap – on duty at the station in the subway.
Cable – cable collector.
Negla – Neglinka river.
LDCH – Earthworm Camp (Reganwurmlager), an underground fortress in the Fortified area East Wall (Ostwall).
Fitter – a worker or other person who is at the facility on duty.
Fitter – a fitter’s work jacket or less often an orange vest.
Assembly house – change house of workers.
Object – a place of interest for the climb.
Pruha is a small Anti-Radiation Shelter, usually located under the house.
Rakohod, racolaz, crustacean – A narrow hole that does not allow you to stand up to your full height.
Light – flashlight.
Private security company, chopper – security guard (Private Security Company).
Skinner, skinner – a narrow hole, through which you can climb only by removing everything superfluous from yourself.
Elka or Aladdin — chemical protection suit L-1. Mostly the lower part.
Foma, fomich – nail puller.
Sawed – successfully penetrate without distroy.
Distroy – destruction inflicted on an object by some diggers.

Images, multimedia

Notes