Here is some news that will not make parents happy, now, that schools are about to open and head lice will become one of the most popular concerns.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about six to twelve million infestations by lice get recorded every year in the U.S. in children 3 to 11 years old.
Ouch.
HOW DO LICE SPREAD?
Lice do not jump or fly and it’s all a matter of hair and head contact. The only bridge that helps them travel from one head to another is the other head itself:
“It[‘]s really head-to-head contact, lice do not jump, they do not fly, it is all hair-to-hair, head-to-head contact,” Diane McGinley, Owner of Shiny Strands says.
Of course there are drugs that can help parents with their children’s lice but what has been really difficult to control are the nits, which are their eggs, and some chemicals are not strong enough to eradicate them.
BUT NOW WE HAVE A BIGGER LICE-PROBLEM
A new head lice strain that has become resistant to the conventional, chemical treatments has appeared in the U.S., according to health officials.
A new study, presented Tuesday at the American Chemical Society meeting and funded by Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company that owns Sklice lotion, which contains a newer generation lice-fighting chemical, says that in samples from 25 of the 30 states, there were insects that had resistance genes. In some samples, including ones from California, Florida, Maine and Minnesota, every insect in the sample did.
And as Kyong Sup Yoon, associate professor of biological sciences and environmental sciences at Southern Illinois University says, people are going to have a very hard time fighting the lice with permethrin or pyrethrin based products.
According to a CNN report, lice resistance is not something new and it started in the mid 1990s in the United States. Head lice remover manufacturers suggest that parents be sure to eliminate nits from the scalp of the infected person, which are attached to the base of hair and hatch in about eight days.
HOW TO ELIMINATE NITS
The first thing you do in order to fight the new species of the resistant lice that appeared across the U.S. recently is to try higher doses of the standard lice treatments like Nix and Rid, which contain over-the-counter permethrin.
“Tell you[r] child that if he or she takes their coat or sweatshirt off during recess, don’t make a pile of jackets. No matter what you use, if it’s a chemical or all-natural, there isn’t a shampoo or magic formula that will just completely eradicate head lice,” McGinley of Shiny Strands suggests.
Some alternative methods suggest olive oil, mayonnaise, and vinegar on a child’s head but remember that after the treatment you have to vacuum the area, wash bedding and bag everything up. There are some cities where you can hire professional lice checkers and cleaners to do the hard work for you. Google it!
