Categories: Health & Safety

Head lice and nits remain a worldwide bane

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-359" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;05&sol;Headlice&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Headlice" width&equals;"200" height&equals;"150" &sol;>A few decades ago&comma; who would have thought that common head lice would still be a considerable nuisance to humanity in the 21st Century&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And a nuisance they still are&comma; in fact according to Wikipedia&comma; they are one that is increasing&comma; rather than declining&period; The online dictionary says the number of cases of human louse infestations &lpar;or pediculosis&rpar; has increased worldwide since the mid-1960s&comma; reaching hundreds of millions annually&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Despite improvements in medical treatment and prevention of human diseases during the 20th century&comma; head louse infestation remains stubbornly prevalent&period; In 1997&comma; 80 per cent of American elementary schools reported at least one outbreak of lice&period; Lice infestation during that same period was more prevalent than chicken pox&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Wikipedia says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;About 6-12 million children between the ages of 3 and 11 are treated annually for head lice in the United States alone&period; High levels of louse infestations have also been reported from all over the world including Israel&comma; Denmark&comma; Sweden&comma; U&period;K&period;&comma; France and Australia&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Head lice can even strike adults at the very highest levels&period; In 2009&comma; 18 senators were sent home from Congress after a routine screening found an infestation of nits&comma; larvae&comma; and adult parasites living on the scalps of high-ranking Washington lawmakers&period; All daily sessions were temporarily suspended&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Internationally&comma; it seems generally accepted that the number of children per family&comma; the sharing of beds and closets&comma; hair washing habits&comma; local customs and social contacts&comma; healthcare in a particular area &lpar;e&period;g&period; school&rpar; and socio-economic status&comma; are significant infestation factors&period; Almost certainly because of their generally longer hair&comma; girls are said to be two – four times more at risk than boys&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is nothing new in this&period; Lice eggs &lpar;nits&rpar; have been found in the hair of Egyptian mummies 4&comma;000 years old&comma; so who knows for how long they have tormented human beings&period; Fortunately&comma; they are not a problem that normally threatens lives – the consequence of their presence is normally no worse than itching and discomfort&period; But it is children who are most at risk&comma; mainly because they are likely to be in much closer proximity to each other than adults&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Touching heads gives the lice the chance to migrate from one host to another&comma; where they feed on fresh blood&period; Head lice have tiny antennas which they use to detect their favourite type of food source and living environment&period; They scan the scalp for the most desirable odour&comma; humidity and temperature&period; It is also believed that they can detect specific blood types and will rapidly migrate to a new host that might taste better&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is the saliva&comma; which people are allergic to&comma; that causes the itching and tell-tale head scratching among pupils&period; While the effects on their health are not likely to be serious&comma; the irritation can have a serious effect on their schoolwork&period; And as only some form of reasonably sophisticated intervention will alleviate the problem&comma; children are dependent on adults for a permanent solution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>New Zealand children are as much at risk as those of any other nation&period; The Ministry of Education regards lice as so much of a problem that it devotes several thousand words to it on its website&period; It recognises that the responsibility on teachers is not only to recognise the problem but decide how they should handle it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As an infestation is often erroneously regarded as a sign of lack of cleanliness or lower economic status&comma; identifying a carrier can have a psychologically devastating effect on both the child and its family&period; Teachers need to tread carefully&period; The sooner the problem can be eliminated&comma; the better&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That is easier said than done as there is no easy answer&period; Skilled combing out of the lice and physically picking out the nits are time honoured techniques&period; Electronic combs are also said to help&period; There is also a variety of modern chemical treatments&comma; but no one has yet found the perfect solution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; several companies in New Zealand offer techniques or equipment that can help&period; One is the Nit Crew which holds the exclusive rights to market the LouseBuster medical device&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;It kills any nits and lice directly in the path of a steam of hot air&comma; by dehydrating them&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said registered operator Hiria Tribble&period; &&num;8220&semi;Any live lice that remain have been made infertile&comma; so are no longer a threat&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We follow up with a comb-out to remove anything live remaining&period; This can take up to an hour&comma; depending on the condition and type of hair&period; The LouseBuster is not a magic pill&comma; but it is scientifically proven to be effective&comma; and part of the FDA clearance means that you cannot make false claims about efficacy&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Levy Medical Technologies offers the RobiComb&comma; an electronic lice comb which detects&comma; kills and removes head lice electronically&period; Company director Irit Levy says it is a chemical free-solution which can be the only way to get rid of lice if and when they become resistant to chemicals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Also&comma; as it is chemical free&comma; it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t cause any damage to the hair or the scalp and avoids use of poisons on children&period; Once the device has been purchased&comma; it becomes a cheap long-term solution to controlling head lice&period; Repeated use over the days following discovery stops the head lice lifecycle&period;&&num;8221&semi; She said RobiComb can be used repeatedly on children within the school environment&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sara Williams at Wilson Consumer Products says the NeutraLice range has a complete solution for head lice&comma; with two treatment products and two removal products&period; &&num;8220&semi;NeutraLice Advance is a pesticide free product that stops lice breathing and breaks the grip on the hair shaft&period; It also treats the eggs&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she said&period; &&num;8220&semi;This product has been clinically proven to work&comma; is fast&comma; easy and is suitable for sensitive skin&period; NeutraLice Spray is a natural treatment that uses tea tree oil and lavender oil to treat head lice and the eggs&period; It is suitable for parents who want to use a natural product on their children with a pleasant smell and has also been clinically proven&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;In between treatments&comma; parents need to continue to remove dead and dying lice and eggs&period; They can use NeutraLice conditioning shampoo which is specially formulated for daily use to rid the scalp of dead lice&period; It contains acetic acid which break the bonds between the head lice and the hair shafts&comma; making it easier to comb out&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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