Head Lice--from a scientific viewpoint
by Trisha Hughes
December 12, 2009
The folllowing viewpoints come from a publication by an entomologist, John F. Burger, from the University of New Hampshire on "Head Lice". Some significant points in his document are:
- One of the worst "problems" of head lice is adult attitudes.
- Head lice is not a serious medical condition.
- Over treatment with lice treatment shampoos is more serious than head lice.
- "Irrational" reactions to head lice can lead to fumigating classrooms, schools, buses, etc....this is expensive and unnecessary.
- Much "information" about head lice is based on old, unproven information generated more than 80 years ago, some of it propagated by the companies who profit from the sale of lice shampoos and sprays.
- Direct physical head to head contact is the usual method of transmission.
- Transmission via clothing, hats, furniture, carpets, school bus seats, and other objects is not likely because of the biology of head lice.
- Lice are fragile, and the chances of being passed on hats and combs is unlikely.
- Carpets, furniture, and pets are not sources of infestation.
- There is no significant relationship between hair length and transmission.
- It is unlikely that a nit on a stray hair shaft will hatch because the only optimal conditions exist on the human head.
- Stray lice that fall off a head are either injured or dying and incapable of causing new infestation.
- In time, inbreeding of lice on a person's head causes them to die spontaneously, that;s why kids do not become covered with them. It is a self-limiting condition.
- It is possible to tell whether treatment has been successful by the appearance of the eggs.
- Considering the average case of head lice is 3-4 months old is detectable, a strict no-nit policy is not necessary or effective and only deprives children of educational experiences.
- Although schools, day care centers, etc. are often blamed for head lice outbreaks, it is the family unit tat maintain cases leading to outbreaks in schools.
