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Looking For Lice!
Head lice are not a pleasant topic of conversation but it is common for school-age children to be infested with head lice. If you can search their hair and catch the infestation before it has gone on for a while, you have a better chance of getting rid of them and preventing future attacks.
Children are especially vulnerable because of the close contact they have with other children. Little girls will often put their heads together to share a secret; they enjoy wearing each other’s clothes, and are always willing to share! Little boys also will be infested with lice, but they will be easier to treat because their hair is shorter, and if all else fails, you can shave their head. If you receive a note from your child’s day care, camp or school that a case of head lice has been found, you will want to inspect their hair immediately. Head lice feed on human blood and will not survive more than 48 hours if they do not have a host head. Head lice are not the result of poor hygiene, lack of cleanliness, or low income in the household. They do not fly, hop or jump. They are transferred by direct contact and crawling on to another host head.
What are you looking for? You will probably not realize your child has head lice until they start complaining of itching and are noticeably scratching their head. Look for nits (eggs) near the shaft of the head. They are small white eggs that are attached by a glue-like substance on the hair shaft. Look for them under a bright light because they are hard to see and will blend in with the color of the hair.
You may also see small quickly crawling insects that are whitish or yellow in color. They have six legs. There is a color difference between hatched and unhatched nits. The unhatched nits are darker in color, when the nits are hatched the cases turn white. If you are uncertain if it is a flake of dandruff or a nit, try moving it with your fingernail. If it does not move, it is a nit. A nit attaches itself by a glue-like substance and is hard to remove.
The adult louse is about the size of a sesame seed. Each on the louse’s six legs ends with a claw that keeps them attached to the hair shaft. The only method of infestation is direct contact with a host head of hair or article of clothing that has been worn by an infested person. Lice cannot live without their host. They will die in about 48 hours after they drop off their host head.
Lice lay their eggs mostly at night and each female louse will lay three to five eggs every 24 hours. The female will live for about seven to ten days, and the eggs will hatch in about the same period. A newly hatched louse must immediately have a meal of blood within moments of birth. Total life span of head lice from egg through adult is around 25 days. Female lice are known to reproduce throughout the year, so makes it doubly important to get rid of these pesky pests!
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Tue 16 Mar 2010 22:29:30 CST | |