Preventing Head Lice

Six to 12 million American children are bothered by head lice each year. As kids head back to school in a matter of weeks, it’s important to know how head lice spread and the best ways to prevent them.

Head lice are more commonly found on children than adults because youngsters are more likely to have close physical contact with each other at school or play. Most likely to be infested are white girls, ages 3 to 12, not because of their personal hygiene but due to their behavior, which is more likely to result in direct contact or sharing of hair care items. Because of the oval shape of their hair shafts, African Americans are rarely infested with head lice prevalent in the United States.Head lice are rapidly developing resistance to many of the most common medications used to treat them. Permethrin 1 percent, a common over-the-counter treatment, demonstrated 96 percent effectiveness after a single application in a study conducted in 1985, but only 45 percent effectiveness in a similar study conducted in 2006.Head lice require human hair to live and breed. Since they can’t fly or jump, they are passed along primarily by head-to-head contact and sometimes by sharing of hats or hair-care products. Household pets or other animals can’t catch head lice, nor can they transmit them to humans. Body lice, pubic lice and the lice sometimes encountered on plants or birds are different species and do not live in human hair.Home remedies for head lice include applying mayonnaise, petroleum jelly, olive oil, vinegar and other substances to the hair to suffocate lice. Reports regarding the effectiveness of these treatments are mixed and have not been proven in clinical studies. Gasoline, kerosene or insecticides – on their own or in combination with other substances – are dangerous and should never be used.(Source: Sean Young: Pennsylvania University : October 2007)