Carol,
I believe current thought states that chiggers just bite, suck your
precious body fluids and drop off.  The intense itching originates from the
anticoagulant injected to facilitate getting the good stuff.  Painting the
bites does nothing.  It's like taking aspirin and calling the doctor in the
morning.  The pain is gone anyway by the morning.  After three or four
days, painted or not, the itching stops because that is about how long it
takes for the toxin to become inactive.
 
One time I was out hunting wild pigs (hawgs, in the South) and heard some
Wood Ducks coming in to the pond I was near.  This being one of the most
beautiful sights in the world I had stay and watch them come in.  I sat
down on a rotting stump.  The ducks were beautiful, but during my walk to
the car my rear started itching.  It became more and more intense and after
the hour long drive I was beside myself.  I had chigger bites on top of
chigger bites coming to the grand total of about 400 on my skinny rearend.
Needless to say, my wife did not allow me out in public for a few days.
 
Now for the shelling story.  If you ever go to Palau to collect shells and
rummage around in the forest for the spectacular land snails there. . . .
wear chigger protection (regular mosquito repellant worked fine).  The
first day out I counted about 70 on each ankle and lived through a small
Hell for about a week.
 
Kurt
 
 
At 01:43 PM 7/14/98 -0400, you wrote:
>I always heard to kill chiggers, you should paint over them with clear nail
>polish--or is that the "old fashioned" way?  The roads mentioned sound like
>the ones at Surfer's Beach in Eleuthera.  Understand some people have never
>been found--they disappeared in the pot holes.
>
>Carol
>