In <19940721.133519.642594.NETNEWS at UICVM.UIC.EDU> Bruce L. Lambert <bruce at ludwig.pmad.uic.edu> writes:
>Hello people,
>While fishing last weekend I hiked through some tall grass and got a
>wicked case of chigger bites.
Were you sitting on the ground while fishing? The grass need not be
tall, but sit in the grass while wearing shorts and there will be trouble.
The chigger (or chigoe), as far as I can
>tell, is a tropical flea, Tunga penetrans, whose fertile female burrows
>under the skin.
>There are lots of home remedies for chigger bites, the most common being
>clear nail polish over the bite to suffocate the little beasts. Others
>include using Kwell, a prescription strength topical antiparasitic cream
>or lotion (gamma benzene hexachloride also known as Lindane).
I'd like to know what is the structure for gamma benzene hexachoride.
Lindane would be hexachlorobenzene, i think, but I am unfamiliar with
gamma benzene hexachloride. Whats the gamma for?
>You guys are the experts. Can you tell me about chiggers? What is their
>life cycle? How can they be gotten rid of, etc. Any and all info would be
>helpful.
This is not my field but:
I have read an article which states by the time you see the red marks,
the little guys have been in and out. But the kind of chiggers in North
America require a cold blooded host like a reptile to be able to get
enough food to complete their life cycle, so you have that little bit
of satisfaction that the ones that "bit" you were in the wrong host.
>Thanks in advance.
>Bruce L. Lambert, Ph.D.
>University of Illinois at Chicago
>bruce at ludwig.pmad.uic.edu>+1 (312) 996-2411
Allen
