How to Prevent and Treat Chigger Bites
You can travel across the globe, but you can’t escape these pests. Chiggers live in every country. Their favorite spots are moist, grassy areas like fields, forests, and even your lawn. You can also find them near lakes and streams.
Chiggers: Little Bugs with a Big Bite
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What are chiggers?
Chiggers are tiny larvae members of the arachnid family and are sometimes called red bugs. Although the larvae are extremely small in size, their bites pack a powerful punch. They’re so tiny that you probably won’t notice when they jump from that tall blade of grass onto your skin. You won’t feel it as they hitch a ride right into your home. When you eventually do feel them, however, they can be extremely itchy.
Chiggers live in tall weeds and grass, in berry patches, and in wooded areas. They may be in your backyard, by the lake, and clustered along your favorite hiking trail. They are most active on spring, summer and fall afternoons, when temperatures are warm and inviting.
They can quickly attach to your skin if you walk by and brush up against vegetation where they live. When the temperature falls below 60˚F (16˚C), chiggers become inactive. They die off when the temperature falls below 42˚F (6˚C).
Chiggers are very tiny and it generally takes a magnifying glass to see them. Adults are about 1/60 of an inch and have eight legs. The larvae are red, wingless, six-legged creatures that measure less than 1/150 of an inch. Because of their red color, you might be able to spot the larvae when they cluster together. After they feast on human skin, they turn a yellowish color.
Only the larvae bite humans. They tend to choose warm, moist areas of the body. Chiggers have claws that help them grab onto skin. The chigger then attaches its mouth to the skin and injects saliva. The saliva contains an enzyme that breaks skin cells down to liquid form.
Your body responds by hardening skin cells around the saliva, creating a tube, or a stylostome through which the chigger sucks the host’s body fluids. Chiggers can stay attached and feeding for several days. Usually they last about 4 days before falling off.
Usually several chiggers are able to latch onto a person walking through an infected area. When the chigger falls off, you are left with reddish bumps. You may notice a bright red dot in the center — this is a remnant of the tube your skin formed in response to the chigger’s saliva. The bumps may look like welts, blisters, pimples, or hives.
Chiggers can stay latched to the same spot for several days, and it’s common to be bitten by more than one. So bites will generally appear in groups and get larger for several days to a week.
Many insects tend to bite exposed skin that’s easy to get to. Chiggers like to bite in folds of skin as well as places where clothing fits tightly. Most chigger bites occur around the ankles, waist, armpits, crotch, or behind the knees.
You won’t feel it when the chigger latches on, and you probably won’t feel a thing when it bites. However, most people report symptoms within hours of the bite. The most problematic symptom of chigger bites is the intense itching and desire to scratch. Chigger bites on the penis can cause severe itching, swelling, and painful urination.
It can take anywhere from one to three weeks for chigger bites to heal. If you suspect you have chigger bites, immediately wash with soap and water. This will get rid of any remaining chiggers on your body. Then apply an antiseptic to any welts.
In the meantime, try to avoid scratching, as this can cause infection. You may use over-the-counter anti-itch medications like hydrocortisone cream or calamine lotion. You can also apply ice to the bites to relieve the itch.
Avoid very hot baths and showers. If you become infected or symptoms don’t improve, see your doctor. It’s a common misperception that chiggers burrow under the skin. They don’t, so there is no need to try to remove them.
Chigger bites are uncomfortable, itchy, annoying, and can make it difficult to sleep. In most cases, chigger bites don’t cause any harm to your health. Chiggers feed on skin cells, but not on blood. They don’t carry or transmit disease.
However, chigger bites can become infected from too much scratching. Notify your doctor if you have swelling, fever, or other signs of infection.
Spring, summer, and fall are prime time for chigger bites. When you’re in wooded areas that may be chigger-infested, try not to brush up against vegetation. When hiking, walk in the center of trails, rather than along the sides.
Wear long sleeves and long pants that can be tucked into your socks or shoes. Use insect or tick repellent, especially around the tops of your shoes, shirt neck, cuffs, and waistband. Shower as soon as you go indoors. Wash your clothes in hot water.
Last medically reviewed on December 9, 2016
How we reviewed this article:
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- Chiggers. (n.d.). Retrieved from
nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/chiggers - Poison ivy and other summer skin irritants. (2014, July 15)
mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/multimedia/poison-ivy/sls-20076702?s=8 - Potter, M. F. (n.d.). Parasitic mites of humans
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How to Prevent and Treat Chigger Bites
You might be out for a stroll in the park with your kids. Or maybe enjoying an afternoon on the golf course. That outdoor fun, though, sometimes comes with a price — an itchy rash from pests you can’t even see.
They’re called chiggers — bugs so small you need a magnifying glass to spot them. They aren’t dangerous, but their bites can leave you with a powerful urge to scratch.
Don’t let them get the best of you! Learn how to soothe your irritated skin and find out how to prevent bites the next time you go outside.
What Are Chiggers and Where Do They Lurk?
Scientists call these creatures “trombiculid mites.” But they have a bunch of nicknames. You might hear people call them harvest mites, harvest bugs, harvest lice, mower’s mites, or red bugs.
Technically, these critters aren’t insects. They’re “arachnids,” in the same family as spiders and ticks.
You can travel across the globe, but you can’t escape these pests. Chiggers live in every country. Their favorite spots are moist, grassy areas like fields, forests, and even your lawn. You can also find them near lakes and streams.
Adult chiggers don’t bite. It’s the babies, called larvae, that you have to watch out for. They’re red, orange, yellow, or straw-colored, and no more than 0.3 millimeters long.
After they hatch from eggs, the babies don’t fly and don’t travel very far on their own. They tend to stay clumped together in large groups on leaves and grass, usually less than a foot off the ground, and attach to animals or people as they pass by.
In the U.S., chigger bites are most common in the late spring, summer, and early fall. The bugs are active when the ground temperature is between 77 and 86 degrees F, and they die when it gets colder than 42.
What to Expect From a Chigger Bite
Once chiggers latch onto your pants or shirt, they crawl around until they find a patch of skin. There, they use sharp, jaw-like claws to make tiny holes. Next, they inject saliva that turns some of your cells into mush.
Why do they do it? To a chigger, those liquefied cells are food. When they get on you, they can stay attached to your skin for several days while they eat.
Chigger bites can happen anywhere on your body, but they often show up in clusters around the waist or lower legs. You may not notice anything wrong at first, but in a few hours you’ll start to itch.
The itching usually lasts for several days and can sometimes keep you awake at night. You may also notice that your skin turns red and has bumps, blisters, or a hive-like rash that may take a week or two to heal.
If you get a chigger bite on your penis, you could get a condition known as “summer penile syndrome.” It causes swelling, itching, and trouble peeing. This can last for a few days to a few weeks.
Chiggers don’t spread diseases but scratching could break the skin and lead to irritation or an infection.
If you have travelled internationally, be aware that the bacteria Orientia tsutsugamushi from bites of infected chiggers (larval mites) can cause scrub typhus. Most cases are reported from exposure to chiggers in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, China, Japan, India and northern Australia. See a doctor if this is the case.
What to Do if You Get Bites
If you think you’ve been around some chiggers, give yourself a full body check. You may be able to see tiny red dots, either moving very quickly or attached to your skin.
Your first step: Take a bath or shower and scrub your skin with soap and water. This washes off any chiggers that are still on you.
Using hot water, wash your clothes and any blankets or towels that touched the ground to kill any bugs that are still hanging on.
Then treat your bites with an over-the-counter anti-itch cream or ointment, like menthol, calamine lotion, or hydrocortisone. You can also get relief if you take antihistamine pills or use a cold compress.
Chigger bites usually get better on their own. But if yours are still bothering you after a few days, see your doctor. In rare cases, you may need steroid shots to calm itching and swelling. Your doctor may also ask you to take antibiotics if your bites become infected.
How to Prevent Bites
When you spend time outdoors in grassy areas, use an insect repellent that has DEET or wear clothing treated with an insecticide like permethrin. As you put on bug spray, pay special attention to areas where chiggers might travel from clothing to skin, like cuffs, necklines, and the top edges of socks.
Some studies show that natural sprays may help keep chiggers away. Try ones that have oils made from citronella, tea tree, jojoba, eucalyptus, geranium, or lemon grass.
And of course, don’t make yourself an easy target for a hungry chigger. Wear long sleeves and long pants, with your pant legs tucked into long socks.
These simple tips lower your odds of getting chigger bites. Then you can enjoy the great outdoors — itch-free!
Show Sources
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University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Center: “Chiggers.”
Clemson University: “Chiggers.”
Missouri Department of Conservation: “Chiggers.”
Juckett, G. American Family Physician, December 2013.
University of Minnesota Extension: “Control of scabies and chiggers on humans.”