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Chiggers

To: Alan Gillanders <>
Subject: Chiggers
From: Penny Brockman <>
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:46:26 +1000
In Peru, chiggers (or jiggers) are fleas - the females lay their eggs in any part of the feet they can reach (and anywhere else in the body they can get to - a guy I know had one in the ball of his thumb and another guy in his buttocks - he spent too much time wearing very short shorts sitting by the side of a small irrigation canal washing sherds), where the eggs hatch and grow just under the skin. A small black spot indicates the egg shell. Local Peruvian indians around where I worked with an archaeological project in 1982, had heavily scarred toes, and our camp doctor spent quite a lot of time digging the grubs out of children's toes, as well as the two unfortunate guys above. Nice things to provide habitat for!
Tony,
Chiggers are mites and we have them here. Some of the Aussie ones are pretty nasty.
Regards,
Alan



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