A louse bite causes an unpleasant, irritating itching and skin burning sensation. It hinders concentration of the mind and causes poorer results in learning. Continuous scratching of itching sites on the head is the cause of skin irritation and bacterial infections. The parasite’s saliva and feces may also cause an allergic reaction manifested as rash on the nape of the neck and head skin. Infestation with head lice has negative consequences also in personal and social aspects. It causes a strong stress in the infested individual and the awareness of negative perception of infestation with lice by the environment.
Head itching may be but does not have to be a symptom of lice infestation. What’s interesting, not everybody infested with lice will experience itching sensation. Head itching may have several causes:
The head lice spread by direct contact. To move from one head to another, the heads of two people must come into contact. Full of such opportunities are playgrounds, leisure activities, camping sites and summer camps. Kids can easily get infested with head lice at school where lice have a great opportunity to spread. Often, the infestation occurs through shared use of combs, brushes and hair elastics, and also thru using someone else’s pillows, towels, hats, scarves and other clothing.
The best way is a regular inspection and hair combing using fine-tooth comb. Attention should also be paid to the appearance of the scalp. Infestation with lice is accompanied with local redness of the head skin – particularly behind the ears and on the hair line. Small papules and discharge may also appear, which develop due to scratching of the itching skin.
Yes, but some rules should be followed. Explain your child that it is not allowed to borrow hats, combs and hair bands from other children. The risk of infection is smaller if the hair is short, braided or tied in a ponytail. Check your child’s hair at least twice a week or even every day if head lice have been detected at school. Use a lice repellent – Nitolic prevent plus regularly to protect your child against the head lice infestation.
It is worth to know that lice can survive without the host up to 48 hours. This means lice can easily get in contact with human head via contact with infested household items like bedding or towels. Therefore, it is extremely important to clean the house, wash all personal items including clothes, towels and bedding.
Lice spread thru direct head to head contact. Such contacts are most common at school. However, lice can be acquired everywhere and from everybody. Playgrounds, camps, and any crowded places like trams, buses or airplanes are great areas to get head lice.
No, it doesn’t. Simple hair washing isn’t going to eliminate head lice. They are resistant to water immersion and use of regular shampoo.
Start treatment immediately. In order to get best results, it is important to conduct the treatment simultaneously in all persons in the immediate environment, who might have come into contact with the parasites. Apartments should be thoroughly cleaned, since lice can survive off human scalp for even two days – on bed linen, blankets, clothing, upholstered furniture. The items that cannot be washed should be tightly closed in plastic bags for several days, as nits can survive even up to two weeks off the host. Therefore, the places where hair of an infested person can be present, like carpets, armchairs, sofas and even car upholstery must be thoroughly vacuumed. All hair toiletries (brushes, combs, hair elastics, etc.) should be discarded and new ones should be bought.
It can happen immediately after. An effective delousing procedure does not mean acquiring resistance to another invasion of parasites. Finding live lice after the treatment means that procedure was ineffective. The causes may vary:
