Lice
Introduction
Lice are tiny, wingless, parasitic insects that feed on your blood. This itchy infestation is easily spread — especially by school children — through close personal contact and by sharing personal belongings.
Several types of lice exist:
- Head lice. These lice develop on your scalp. They're easiest to see at the nape of your neck and over your ears. Small eggs (nits) produced by lice attach to your hair shafts. The eggs hatch in about one week, resulting in more lice.
- Body lice. These lice spend most of their time in the seams and folds of your clothing. Body lice are often spread by direct contact with infected clothing or bedding or with an infected person. In rare cases, body lice may carry diseases.
- Pubic lice. Commonly called crabs, these lice occur on the skin and hair of your pubic area and on eyelashes. Sexual contact or contact with infected clothing, bedding or even toilet seats can spread pubic lice.
Signs and Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of lice include:
- Intense itching.
- Lice on the scalp, the body, clothing, or pubic or other body hair. Lice can be up to 1/8 inch (3 millimeters) in size.
- Lice eggs (nits) on hair shafts. Nits resemble tiny pussy willow buds. Nits can be mistaken for dandruff, but unlike dandruff, they can't be easily brushed out of hair.
- Small, red bumps on the scalp, neck and shoulders.
Causes
You can get lice by coming into contact with either lice or their eggs. Eggs hatch in about one week. Lice can't fly or walk on the ground. They spread by:
- Head-to-head or body-to-body contact. This may occur as children or family members play or interact closely together.
- Close proximity of stored belongings. Storing clothing next to each other in closets, lockers or on side-by-side hooks at school, or storing personal items such as pillows, blankets, combs and stuffed toys in close proximity at home can permit lice to spread.
- Sharing items. These may include clothing, headphones, brushes, combs, hair decorations, towels, blankets, pillows and stuffed toys.
- Contact with contaminated furniture. Lying on a bed, sitting in furniture or even using a toilet seat recently used by someone infected with lice can spread them. Head lice live for up to two days off the body.
- Sexual contact. All three forms of lice can spread in this manner.
Treatment
If nonprescription lotion or shampoo doesn't kill the lice, your doctor can prescribe a stronger shampoo or lotion. Malathion (Ovide) has been re-approved as a prescription drug for treating head lice. Malathion is flammable, so keep it away from heat sources such as hair dryers, electric curlers and cigarettes. If you're pregnant or breast-feeding, talk to your doctor before using this product.
Another type of prescription treatment for lice contains the medication lindane (Kwell). Your doctor may not recommend using lindane for people who weigh less than 110 pounds, have used it in the past few months or for women who are breast-feeding. Side effects may include skin irritation and seizures.
Use these medications as directed; applying too much can cause red, irritated skin.
Whether you use over-the-counter or prescription shampoo to kill lice, much of the treatment involves self-care steps you can take at home to make sure all the nits are removed and that all clothing, bedding, personal items and furniture are decontaminated. In most cases, killing lice on your body isn't difficult. The challenge is making sure you get rid of all the nits and avoiding contact with other lice at home or school.
Prevention
It's difficult to prevent the spread of head lice among children in day care and in school settings. There's so much close contact among children and their belongings that lice can spread easily. It's no reflection on your hygiene habits or those of your children, and it's not a failure on your part as a parent if your child gets head lice. The best approach is simply to take thorough steps to get rid of the lice— and their eggs — so that you don't have more lice to deal with.
You can ask your child not to share hats, scarves, coats, combs, brushes, hair decorations and other personal belongings at school. But it's not realistic to expect that you and your child can eliminate all the types of contact that may result in the spread of lice.
Your child may have nits in his or her hair but not necessarily develop a case of head lice. Some nits are empty eggs. However, nits that are found within 1/4 inch of the scalp should be treated — even if you find only one — to prevent the possibility of hatching. Nits that are farther away from the scalp are probably from an old infestation and don't need to be treated.
Informations obtained from National Institute of Health.