Head lice removal causes 'big time' stress

Journal Gazette / Times-Courier
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
March 23, 2008

MATTOON - Gone are the days of sifting through hundreds of little heads looking for tiny little bugs.

Instead, Mattoon school district nurses are oriented toward providing suffering families with the expertise to lose the lice.

The mass lice inspections "were time consuming, and we've found that concentrating on the specific problem was a much better use of our time and energy," said Vicky Wright, district nurse.

But even with this sort of support, getting rid of head lice - which, contrary to myth, can plague scalps in any level of society - almost always is a time-consuming chore, say health officials.

Because of the resilience and portability of head lice, rigorous household cleaning and removal of louse eggs, or nits, is vital to ending an infestation, said officials.

In other words, you've gotta nitpick: literally.

"It's a huge, tedious process," said Michelle Mathews, communicable disease coordinator for the Coles County Health Department in Charleston. "It stresses people out big time."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, it is difficult to determine the number of people who serve as hosts for the parasite every year, although lice are most common among preschool- and elementary-age children and their families. Girls are more prone to getting lice than boys, said the CDC.

"Personal hygiene or cleanliness in the home or school has nothing to do with getting head lice," the CDC said.

Lice feed on blood, a practice that leads to the telltale sign of an infestation: excessive head scratching.

The insects begin as nits, which resemble tiny pods usually attached to hair shafts near the scalp. These hatch as nymphs, which then grow into adults in nine to 12 days.

Adult lice can live up to 30 days on a human head, or one to two days if they fall off. A female louse can lay up to 10 nits per day.

Most schools have a "no nit policy," meaning that children cannot attend classes as long as nits are present on their heads.

In Mattoon, nurses have abandoned the regular "mass inspections" for lice, and now rely on teachers to observe symptoms in their students, Wright said. Nurses then counsel parents as to the best methods for lice removal.

"The best way to get rid of lice is to find the nits," she said. "Sit down in a good light, and take a section of the hair and pick out the nits.

"There's nothing better than just going through it and just picking those things out with your bare fingers."

The Illinois Department of Public Health also recommends various over-the-counter and prescription products to kill at least live lice, although nits may survive. A follow-up treatment is suggested seven to 10 days later.

These topical products are not advised for infants or pregnant women.

And some lice are developing a resistance to these medications, Mathews said. "But for most people, treatments work just fine," she said.

"Usually after one treatment, if (the parents) have done everything correctly, (a child) typically can go back to school."

Health officials also recommend daily inspections for surviving lice and nits following the initial discovery and treatment.

Because lice can survive briefly on their own, copious cleaning is required of household items. Those that can be washed and dried under high heat should be, while vacuuming mattresses and furniture is paramount. Unwashable items should be sealed in plastic bags for several weeks.

Officials agree that lice spray is not needed, and even can have adverse health effects.

For girls with head lice, cosmetologists do not advise haircuts to supplement treatments. In fact, most salons will refuse service to a child with lice.

Michelle Donnell, owner of Tangles MD salon in Mattoon, said cutting a child's long hair could prove more traumatic than the ordeal of nitpicking and topical treatments.

And Donnell also stressed that the association of lice with household uncleanliness and poor personal hygiene is not accurate.

"A louse would rather be on a clean head," she said.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov or www.idph.state.il.us and search for "head lice."

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