Passing-Thought

Chigarid

So, on Monday, I went on a hunt to find some Chigarid. I haven't been able to get much sleep recently. Chiggers have been feasting upon me, and as a result the itching has kept me up at night.

After visiting the pharmacy at Krogers and then WalMart, I couldn't find anything but "Chiggerex". I wasn't sure that the stuff would actually kill the chiggers, so I called my mother to find out what she used to put on the bites. I thought it was clear nail polish, but I wanted to be sure. So, she confirmed that clear nail polish is what she used to suffocate them. So, I picked up a cheap bottle of the stuff.

While I was still in the nail section, I noticed a girl talking on her cell phone to her mother, and she was holding some "Chiggerex" in her hand. Astounded, I pointed at her Chiggerex, and said, "I am looking for the same stuff you are!" I showed her where the clear nail polish was. (She appeared to be more eaten up then I was, at least from her visible sores.) Her mom also verified my concern that Chiggerex wouldn't work as well as Chigarid, which the girl said I might be able to find at the local CVS store. Sure enough, the next day, I picked up the last bottle from CVS.

During lunch, I rehearsed the coincidence to some friends in the cafeteria, and found out from one of them that chiggers don't actually bury themselves under the skin, consequently, nail polish doesn't suffocate them. The itching is mostly caused by the infection which the mouth of a chigger creates with its saliva. So, we don't sufficate them to kill them, but they typically die after we scratch/rub them off, leaving their mouth in our skin to bother us for days, as the article below details.

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

The article even suggests that chiggers here in the Southwest bite us "on accident", and would much rather feed on birds. Consequently, their saliva causes us to itch because we are not their intended host (it has no affect on birds).

In anycase, even if Chigarid doesn't kill chiggers, it is effective in helping to stop the itching, and its "nail polish" like character does help keep me from scratching it and causing an infection.