Head Lice Treatment and Prevention

The official estimate of yearly cases of people contracting Lice is between 6 and 12 million people. Of those numbers, approximately 98% of them are children under the age of 10. Head Lice are denied in many quarters as pesky little six legged insects, that predominantly act as a nuisance to humans. Their general size is the surface of the head of straight pin. They normally gather in the scalp of humans, and rarely travel very far in a downward direction. A human can only contract Lice from another human, not from an animal. The Lice have a tiny mouth, not visible to the human eye, this mouth bites the scalp and feeds on the blood. Human blood is paramount to their survival. Any person can contract head lice, but they are extremely rare in adults. A child’s school is not the only place a Lice transmission can occur. Children do contract Lice during the summer months and when they are out of school for holiday vacations. Lice can be contracted at parks, at community gathering places, and a host of other places where children gather. The length of ones hair, or cleanliness of it, has no baring on ones chances of contracting Lice.If two people’s heads are touching each other for any length of time, the Lice can easily move from one head to another, but Lice can not fly or hop. Contrary to popular belief, a person can not contract Lice from objects like walls or the backs of chairs, or even from sitting on the floor, or carpet. There has to be some type of contact between one person to the next. Most people, do not realize they have contracted Lice for a 3 month period after transmission. This is because the chief symptom, of Lice is itching, the scalp itches quite substantially before someone gets the attention needed to diagnose the Lice. Some children and adults may have a few Lice on their scalp that do not necessary multiply enough, to become noticeable or itch. So theoretically, some people can get Lice and have them for a long period of time, and never know they have them, or had them. Lice droppings can fall on the pillows of those infected at night, and the pillow cases can become noticeably soiled, that is another way of detection. Lice are hard to prevent completely, but there are things that can be done to reduce transmission and the severity of the infection.Combing a child’s damp hair, thoroughly is known to help located the Lice. Every family member should check their hair, and pillows if they suspect a Lice infection on a family member. All family members should comb their hair on a white or light colored sheet to see if their are any droppings after the combings. Once detection is discovered treatment can that start immediately. The people that should be treated for Lice infections are those people that have found a living Louse (singular) in their hair. A local drug store, has a full line of Lice treatments and remedies. It is recommended that if only one or two Louse are found on the scalp a lotion, versus a shampoo should be used on the scalp. After treatment commences on an infected child, the school nurse should be alerted, that the child has an infection and is being treated. That way the nurse can check your child’s scalp throughout the school day. The condition should clear up in 2 days, if the Lice are still present then one should try shampoo for Lice removal. Stores that specialise in holistic care, have natural remedies for Lice removal and offer organic types of shampoos that some consider less harsh, then other commercial types of Lice treatments.