recent wierd bug bites

Maybe chiggers

Whew!!!!! It was nail biting suspense reading this until you said you were sure it was red bugs (chiggers). I think there’s something called Chigger-Rid. Seems like I remember hearing that some people paint clear nail polish over them. My dad used to get them every time he went hunting. I have never had them on me. They looked like a little dot the color of red pepper. That’s why they call them red bugs.

not to worry you astro but when i was originally researching all possible infectious diseases before i had a lyme / bart diagnosis i looked into various rickettsia organisms and i seem to recall one in particular - called brush typhus could be transmitted by chiggers - its a good while ago now but that's as i recall it. i thinks its a known thing in far eastern countries - which came up in my search as i have extensive travel history there for things like mountain biking etc

in reality anything which bites for a blood meal will at least in theory be able to transmit blood borne infections - the exact risk will be a combination of factors
-whether the vector / arthropod is carrying pathogens
-what mode of transmission it uses / how easily it transmits those organisms
-how long it bites for ( longer is better for transmission in some cases )
-how long since it bit the last infected animal before biting us
-status of the host immune system ( a big factor in whether you get sick or not)


almost everything that bites for blood injects some anticoagulant substance from its mouthparts or stomach to allow the blood to flow - and i think that's the main vector to host transmission route as pathogens such as bart and lyme live in the saliva glands of things like ticks and flies

fleas and lice are slightly different in that often the pathogenic organisms - like bart are present in the faeces which they deposit close to where they bite - then when you scratch the itch from the bite you inoculate the bite site with the faeces and bacteria