My favorite treatment is an over the counter cortisone type cream. Coming
from southern Iowa I had a lot of encounters with them. We used to put a
thick layer of bar soap on them (we had laundry bar soap at that time and
that was the reccomended type) with some relief (better than Calamine).
One day in chigger season I went into the notorious chigger stronghold of
the Patagonia Nature Conservancy property in SE AZ with pants in socks and
plenty of OFF. However, I wore canvas shoes, had forgotten to spay them and
woke up in camp that night with the backs of my feet seemingly on fire. I put
the cream (the only thing that I had in my toilet kit that seemed of any
possible use) on the bites and shortly after that was able to sleep. A
miracle! Shortly after that I got a copy of the FIELD GUIDE TO THE DANGEROUS
ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA and saw they reccommended that very treatment.
My question is: Do we have them in WA? In Iowa in my youth the saying was
that there were no chiggers north of US 30. The only place during my years in
AZ that I heard of anyone encountering them was at the Patagonia Sanctuary.
Bob Norton
Joyce, WA