Chiggers

[Mauro]

hi all,

I have been wild camping in a forest near Norfolk (UK). Come back with the small one (2 and half years old) bitten by "chiggers" (also few come home with us!).

Nothing too bad, but I am curious if you have any suggestions or experience on "more dangerous" things which children can be pick up in the woods? and way to prevent them!

Thanks,

Mauro

 

[ScottC]

Have a look at this thread on Ticks and Lyme Disease http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showthread.php?t=1814&highlight=Lyme+Disease

 

[ScottC]

If you don't mind my asking, was you camping on private property Mauro? Or a public campsite? The reason I ask is I'm looking for a good place around Norfolk to get upto for a few days in the holidays.

 

[Lurch]

Chiggers? Some kind of slang for ticks?

 

[ScottC]

No, Ticks attach themselves to hosts to feed by sucking there blood. Although found in similar environments chigger (also knows as jiggers or Red Bugs) larvae do not burrow into the skin, nor suck blood. They pierce the skin and inject into the host a salivary secretion containing powerful, digestive enzymes that break down skin cells that become liquiified and then sucked up. After a larva is fully fed in four days, it drops from the host, leaving a red welt with a white, hard central area on the skin that itches severely and may later develop into dermatitis. Any welts, swelling, itching, or fever will usually develop three to six hours after exposure and may continue a week or longer. If nothing is done to relieve itching, symptoms may continue a week or more. Scratching a bite may break the skin, resulting in secondary infections. However, chiggers are not known to transmit any disease in this country.

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

There's actually a 5% 'chance' of being infected with the borrelia. I know some guys who has/had it and they say it's not funny. You need antibiothics.

I can usual have a few on me after a day in the nature, but just pull out the tweezers in the SAK and take them. The head always comes too! Just don't push on the bug, as you will transfer the poison into the body by this... :shock:

 

[Les Marshall]

Has anyone got a pic of these vermints? Never heard of them myself, or seen them. :?:

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

If you get this you're probably ill. But it can turn red a month after the bite!
Before the meal....... :shock:
After the meal....... :shock:

 

[ScottC]

Borrelia is a bacteria that causes Lyme Disease, one of the biggest tick born diseases. Chiggers are not known to transmit the Borrelia Spirochete. You are confused with ticks :biggthump

 

[Les Marshall]

Thanx for the photo Andy, ugly little so ans so's, makes you want to cross your legs :why:

 

[Lurch]

The pic looks exactly like a tick to me?

 

[george]

Hi...

If you get this you're probably ill. But it can turn red a month after the bite!
Before the meal....... :shock:
After the meal....... :shock:

Andy - those are pictures of ticks - not chiggers.

George

 

[george]

Look here http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/

for pics and info on chiggers.

George

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

Sorry, thought you all meant ticks. But at least you now got pictures of ticks...

 

[James Watson]

Can you get chiggers in the UK :?:

I've had both chiggers and ticks. But I've only suffered from chiggers in the US.

I came back from The US with Lyme Disease this year :yikes: not a pleasant thing to have

Still got a good relationship with ticks though... we have an understanding. if they bite me, I squash them

 

[TheViking]

Still got a good relationship with ticks though... we have an understanding. if they bite me, I squash them

:yikes: :yikes: :yikes: If you squash them there's a risk of pressing the borrelia into your body! :shock: This way you don't get the head out, which is important... Much better to take them with a pair of tweezers (the one in the SAK)... Burn them afterwards.

 

[James Watson]

Hi Andy

:rolmao: :rolmao: I squash them after pulling them out!

The question is, do you pull them straight out or twist them clock or anti clockwise?

James

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

I've done it quite a few times and I normally just pull them straight out. This because i don't want to 'strangle' them, risking the head fells off. I get the head all the time, so it works...