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The Facts of Lice
By Marsha Nagel, R.N., M.P.H.
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| Photo: Stockxpert |
Those teeny, tiny pesky bugs that seem to bother children everywhere and anywhere-how do they get them?
Try taking the following quiz and see how well you score.
1. T F Head lice jump.
2. T F If a child has head lice, it means they are dirty.
3. T F Head lice are found only in low socio-economic regions.
Well, if you answered that #1 is True, you are incorrect. Head lice, unlike the flea, cannot jump-- they crawl. The sharing of combs brushes and clothing items, transmits them from person to person. Children seem to get them more than adults, as they share frequently in school settings.
If you answered False for #2 you are correct! In fact, contrary to all popular wishful thinking, head lice like clean hair as well as dirty. The mother bug likes to lay her eggs on hair strands. Eggs (nits) hatch in 7-10 days. Bugs live off the blood it sucks from heads. An itchy thought!
Number 3 is also False. One particular story comes to mind. In one school of a higher socio-economic area, an uppity parent declared, "I have my Masters in Nursing, and I don't want my child checked for head lice." However, due to an upcoming school trip, all children going needed to be checked.
Lo and behold the "educated mother" was told her child had head visitors. They are no respecters of income; they are not prejudiced: they cross all social and race barriers. I never knew what head lice looked like until I became a School Nurse, so I certainly don't expect everyone to know what they look like.
When a child is found to have nits (eggs) or crawling live bugs, the siblings are also checked. Parents are called and asked to pick up the child(ren) from school. Brochures are given out telling families the facts of lice. One female louse (singular of lice) may lay 4-8 eggs per day. It takes 17 days for baby lice to become adults. The bug may live up to 3 weeks and continue laying eggs daily.
One may either purchase medication from their physician, or ask the local pharmacist what medications or natural products he/she recommends that work. Children should not be treated with medication treatments more than 1 time in a week. Pregnant women or nursing mother or babies should not be treated with the head lice medication without medical consultation.
Following the directions on the prescription bottle should kill head lice. But treatment resistant bugs seem to be arising. Another main problem arises when all the nits are not combed out of the child's hair. How is this best done? By using a metal comb and special hair care product, which helps to loosen the nits on the hair shaft. I'm sure, as you can imagine--the combing job takes longer than applying the medication.
Patience on the part of the parents and the child is required. This insures that no more eggs will hatch into new baby bugs.
Parents need to wash all the child's clothing and bedding in hot water. Lice crawl off the child's head at night and into the bed covers and child's clothing and remain in hiding. The next night (even after a prescription treatment has occurred) at bedtime, bugs easily crawl back on the child's head from the untreated bedding.
As you can see, it is important to treat the problem correctly in the first place. Head lice cause itching on the child's head, as the bugs crawl around on the head and suck blood. Getting rid of head lice is not a fun job, however prevention is best. Teach children not to share combs, brushes and clothing with other kids. Exercise care when allowing your child to spend the night at friend's house. Remind children when they are at school, to keep their coats/sweaters hanging on the back of their chair, not piled in a heap with other coats.
People often report to me in "secret" that they know of a student with head lice who is "giving it" to their child. The school should check all suspect children. The whole classroom needs to be checked discreetly if one student is found to have lice or nits. Then the School Nurse or health aide reports to the parent by a private phone call this way, no one is embarrassed.
Head lice still seems to be a "social stigma." Removing the cloud of myth that has hung over the lice's head for so long will help the bug to be respected and perhaps feared, but surely prevented! ______________________________
Marsha K. Nagel, R.N.,M.P.H., School Nurse/Health Educator.
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