Vitality News Health Articles

Children are vulnerable to contact diseases. This is especially true when they start school and associate with other children. Another danger is head lice infestation that may also spread to adults. Head lice are not a medical problem and if you should discover lice in your children’s hair, there is no need to panic. They are not vectors for any diseases, viruses or harmful bacteria. Their preferred environment is human hair and lice survive on human blood.

While head lice are not a life-threatening menace, they are annoying and a social negative because of the way they make your scalp itch. Even if you eliminate the adults, their eggs and nits can give you the same problem all over again. So how to get rid of lice and all their eggs and nits? While conventional soap and shampoo are not effective, several specialized ways to expunge lice infestations exist.

You can do a manual search to locate head lice and nits and kill them. It is a time-consuming and laborious job though. There are medicated shampoos that work well. You can use fine-toothed combs called lice combs on moistened hair to remove the lice and nits. They are also known as nit combs and are more effective than medical treatment, as scientists say the lice are increasingly getting immune to chemical treatments in some parts of the world.

After you’ve finished using the lice comb, carefully clean out any trapped material that has lodged in the comb and wash it with running warm water. Dry it thoroughly with a hair dryer from a distance to avoid melting the comb. Then wash and dry the infested head and repeat the combing routine, since a single combing is not sufficient to locate and remove all of the head lice and their nits.

Lice treatments can be done in several ways. One method, especially against fresh infections is to wash the clothing in hot water properly and then dry them in dryer. This can be done to remove lice from recently used towels, pillow covers, hats, caps or scarves. Even if the thing is not washable, there is no need to worry. For things that cannot be washed may be sealed away from contact for a minimum three days. This is because lice die within a day that they don’t get to feed on human blood.

Next, clean all the combs, brushes, hairpins and other such things that can come into contact with the head. Tell your children about the importance of not using combs, brushes, hats and caps belonging to other kids. Allocate separate combs and brushes for each person, easily identifiable by different colors. Do not let any child lie on pillows belonging to another. The whole process has to be repeated at least every week for a month. This is to make sure infestations do not occur after a couple of weeks, as the lice have a life cycle of three weeks.

Head lice are acquired by contact like contagious diseases irrespective of age. They do not carry disease/bacteria but they live on human blood and are annoying. The itching irritates people infested with lice. The problem is not over until adult lice/eggs/nits are removed. The question how to get rid of lice does not get solved because soaping/shampooing will not do the trick. Manually searching/killing lice are time-consuming/laborious. Use of medicated shampoos, lice comb and hair blower help. Scientists find lice getting immune to chemical treatments. Bedspreads/pillow covers/towels/clothing need washing in hot water to avoid fresh infestation. One must ensure that anything touching the infested head is clean combs/brushes/caps/hairpins etc.

- norman horowitz