As children return to school, you may have a note that comes home with your student notifying you that head lice were found on one of your child’s classmates.  While panic may be your first reaction, a review of the facts will give you the information you need to deal with this.

• Head lice (insects) are not due to poor personal hygiene.
• Head lice crawl; they do not hop, jump or fly.  They need human blood to survive and they will not live for more than 24 hours off of its human host.
• They are mainly spread by head-to-head contact, such as sharing clothing, bed linens, combs, brushes, and hats.  Kids are most prone to catching lice because they tend to have close physical contact with each other and often share personal items.
• Nits (the eggs) are small yellowish-white, oval shaped eggs that are “glued” at an angle to the hair shaft.  Nits are laid by live lice close to the scalp where the temperature is perfect for keeping warm until they hatch in 7 – 10 days.

Successful treatment and elimination of head lice includes:

• Check every family member – nits are easier to see than the live louse (single insect).
• Use a product to eliminate the lice for family members over age 2.

Concentrate your time and energy on removing the nits.  Separate hair into sections and  remove nits with your fingernails.

• Wash bedding, towels and recently worn clothing in hot water and dry in a hot dryer.  Vacuum rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, pillows, mattresses, car interiors and car seats.
• Following the treatment, inspect hair and remove nits daily for the next 14 days.  If lice and/or nits are observed, a second treatment is recommended.

Be sure to let your child know that they haven’t done anything wrong and anyone can get lice.  Patience, daily head checks, nit removal, and discussing prevention will keep the bugs away.   

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 10:34 am and is filed under Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.