Argggh! :cry:

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,258
4,370
Pines; Bamber area
Argggh!

I was telling Ben via email that I got a good healthy dose of chiggers by walking around my car at work the other day. I was parked in a quiet spot off Route 70 just East of Lakehurst eating lunch, and I walked around the car briefly to see what was growing in the spare, calf-high grass.

:cry:

Big mistake. I was lucky to be wearing khakis and noted about 20 on each pant leg. They were super small, most likely just hatched. I got most of them off but they ran into my seams, and I had no pants to change into. I have a dozen healthy bites; behind the knees, on my waist, and on my butt. Thank God not one on my other area.

I have always assumed they start in August, this is the earliest I ever got them. I noted two things that bring relief. One is to jump in the swimming pool for a few minutes. They stop itching for an hour or two. And Friday I took a trip up North Jersey, so I put merchurochrome on the bad ones and put a bandaid on over it. They stayed quiet for several hours.
 

onehand

Explorer
Apr 11, 2005
374
1
potter co. pa.
about three weeks ago the wife and drove to Martha (same name as my wife) got out and just walked down the road to the bridge and back to see the water level....well we both got ticked and i got chiggered, about five or six, just from walking down the road !

beleive or not i have never seen a chigger, or maybe seen then and not knew what i was looking at

______________________________________

"if first you don't succeed don't bother to try again"

Alfred Joy Bumberfield
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,656
8,266
I have not been out since our Rattlesnake outing and don't know what you are talking about :)

Guy
 

ebsi2001

Explorer
May 2, 2006
301
0
southern NJ
"mercurochrome"

bobpbx said:
<SNIP>...so I put merchurochrome on the bad ones and put a bandaid on over it. They stayed quiet for several hours.

I don't know where you got the mercurochrome, Bob, but they took that stuff off the market years ago --- replaced it with merthiolate (white and red--colored), which has since, evidently, also been taken off the market. Today's "disinfectant" of choice seems to be povidone iodine...

ebsi
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,258
4,370
Pines; Bamber area
ebsi2001 said:
I don't know where you got the mercurochrome, Bob, but they took that stuff off the market years ago --- replaced it with merthiolate (white and red--colored), which has since, evidently, also been taken off the market. Today's "disinfectant" of choice seems to be povidone iodine...

ebsi

Merchurochrome has never failed me.
 

ebsi2001

Explorer
May 2, 2006
301
0
southern NJ
"mercurochrome"

bobpbx said:
Merchurochrome has never failed me.

It shouldn't, Bob: Mercurochrome, which is a patent name for the substance generally known as "merbromin" {2',7'-dibromo-4'-(hydroxymercuri)fluorescein disodium salt, spiro[isobenzofuran-1(3H),9'-[9H]xanthene]}, contains highly toxic mercury, which bacteria don't like.

Mercury is also highly toxic to humans (brain, kidney damage; loss of sexual function) :jd:, and although mercurochrome has been a staple in America's medicine chest since the Harding Administration, it had never been checked--out by the FDA. Because of this, it is not considered to be "GRAS," and, as such, is no longer readily available as an OTC product. In order for it to be considered "GRAS," the manufacturer(s) of this substance must do expensive clinical trials. Sales of this substance probably do not warrant such an outlay, as such trials could be very lengthy (several decades in length), due to the contention that the absorption of the mercury moiety is cummulative.

http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/ME/merbromin.html

The authors of the MSDS considers its risks to be:

R26 Very toxic by inhalation.
R27 Very toxic in contact with skin.
R28 Very toxic if swallowed.
R33 Danger of cumulative effects.

ebsi
______________________________________
"What eeeveil lurks in the minds of men? Only the Shadow know...
Muahahahaha --- Lamont Cranston :ninja:
 

ebsi2001

Explorer
May 2, 2006
301
0
southern NJ
Not Quite !!!

woodjin said:
Everything you wanted to know about mercurochrome but were afraid to ask.

When I was a "wee laddie," I used to "hang--out" in an auto body shop: It "smelt" so GOOOD in there, especially when they were spray painting cars! One guy, who I thought might have been 75 or so, but was probably only a 25--year old Piney with a humongus beer belly, used to describe how they made burbon from home--brewed "white lightnin'" or soffthin' like 'et. He said, they always used to add a "dash of mercurochrome" fer keller..."

Now for the rest of the story...

Mercurochrome is the trade name of merbromin antiseptic tinctures made of merbromin and alcohol or water (usually 2% merbromin to 98% alcohol or water).

Its antiseptic qualities were discovered by Johns Hopkins doctor Hugh Young in 1919. The chemical soon became popular among parents and doctors for everyday antiseptic uses and it was very commonly used for minor injuries in the schoolyard, where children nicknamed the tincture "Monkey Blood." ...and the scabs were a "tasty treat," too! :jd: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed it from the "generally recognized as safe" and into the "untested" classification to effectively halt its distribution in the United States in the 1990s over fears of potential mercury poisoning. It is readily available in most other countries. ...except Germany, where it was banned it the mid-80s. It was, however, available for some time, at least, with a doctor's prescription.

For trivia fanz: Mercurochrome is mentioned several times in Joseph Heller's 1955 novel Catch-22.

BTW:More than 30 years after the alarm was first raised, mercury accumulation in fish remains the chief source of exposure to the toxic metal in the U.S. The FDA advises that pregnant women, women who may become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish entirely and limit consumption of albacore tuna (canned white tuna and tuna steaks) to 6 ounces per week. Canned light tuna, shrimp, salmon, pollock, and catfish are said to be OK for up to 12 ounces per week. Some say even these guidelines, particularly the one for albacore, are too permissive. I'm not one to encourage our elected paranoids, but when you look at some of the brain-damaged decisions that get made in this country, often you can't help but think somebody's mom ate too much shrimp. Step up to the seafood bar for some shrimp in mercurochrome sauce!

For those of you who are mercurochrome fans, support the "cause" (whatever THAT is) and buy a T--shirt, or, at least a sticker!

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/mercurochrome

ebsi
______________________________________
"What eeeveil lurks in the minds of men? Only the Shadow know...
Muahahahaha --- Lamont Cranston :ninja:
 
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