re jiggers i may not be the world s greatest expert on chiggers a type of mite indigenous to the south but i certainly have spent a lot of time contemplating the little buggers over the past six years since we moved to n c here are some observations gained from painful experience reactions to chiggers vary greatly from person to person some people get tiny red bites others like me are more sensitive and get fairly large swollen sore like affairs chigger bites are the gift that keeps on giving i swear that these things will itch for months there is a lot of folklore about chiggers i think most of it is fiction i have tried to do research on the critters since they have such an effect on me the only book i could find on the subject was a single book in unc s special collections library i have not yet gone through what is required to get it based on my experience and that of my family members the old folk remedy of fingernail polish simply doesn t work i recall reading that the theory upon which it is based that the chiggers burrow into your skin and continue to party there is false i think it is more likely that the reaction is to toxins of some sort the little pests release but this is speculation the best approach is prevention a couple of things work well a good insect repellent deet such as deep woods off liberally applied to ankles waistband etc is a good start there is another preparation called chig away that is a combination of sulfur and some kind of cream cortisone that originally was prepared for the army and is not commercially available in the summer i put this on my ankles every morning when i get up on weekends since i literally can t go outside where we live in the country without serious consequences they apparently don t like sulfur much at all you can use sulfur as a dust on your body or clothing to repel them no amount of prevention will be completely successful forget the fingernail polish i have finally settled upon a treatment that involves topical application of a combination of cortisone creme reduces the inflamation and swelling and benzocaine relieves the itch i won t tell you all the things i ve tried nor will i tell you some of the things my wife does since this counts as minor surgery and is best not mentioned i also think it gains nothing the swelling and itching can also be significantly relieved by the application of hot packs and this seems to speed recovery as well doctors seem not to care much about chiggers the urban and suburban doctors apparently don t encounter them much and the rural doctors seem to regard them as a force of nature that one must endure i suspect that anyone who could come up with a good treatment for chiggers would make a lot of money gary h merrill principal systems developer c compiler development sas institute inc sas campus dr cary nc sasghm theseus unx sas com mcnc sas sasghm
