Head lice have been a scary parasite for a long time. In fact, some schools have had to close temporarily because of lice outbreaks. But the American Academy of Pediatrics says that many schools and day care centers have a rule that someone with lice must not have any lice eggs (called nits) in their hair before they can go back.
The AAP says it’s fine for kids to go to school with lice, according to new advice. In the advice, the AAP says that head lice are neither dangerous to health nor a sign of bad hygiene. But the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that putting a child in quarantine because they have head lice could cause “significant stigma and psychological stress.”
The advice from the AAP is similar to what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, which is that students with live head lice “do not need to be sent home from school early.” Instead, the CDC says, “They can go home at the end of the day, get treated, and then go back to class after the right treatment has started.” The CDC says that nits may still be there after treatment, but a good treatment should kill crawling lice.
Lice are usually feared a lot, so it makes sense to have questions. Here are some facts that every parent should know about lice.
Lice spreads from person to person.
The CDC says that head lice are about 2 to 3 millimeters long and usually live on the head or neck.The females deposit their eggs at the hair’s follicle. The CDC says that without a blood meal from their host, they will die within a day or two. Lice crawl around, but they can’t jump or fly.
The CDC says that head lice are most often spread when people are close to each other. Dr. Danelle Fisher, a pediatrician and chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, tells Yahoo Life, “It’s spread when a kid with lice in their hair gets close to another kid.” “It’s not like the lice will jump 50 feet across the classroom to get into the hair of another kid.”
There are some signs that you might have lice.
The CDC says you should pay attention to these signs of lice:
- Itching, which is caused by an allergic reaction to head louse bites
- An unsettling sense that something is rustling in your hair.
- Getting angry and having trouble sleeping (head lice are most active in the dark)
- Head sores that come from scratching
You can also find lice and their eggs, called nits. The nits look like tiny grains of rice that are stuck to hair near the base of the scalp. The CDC says it’s easy to think they are dandruff, scabs, or hair spray droplets. The CDC says that live lice are about the size of a sesame seed and are tan to grayish white with six legs.
Lice are treatable.
When it comes to getting rid of lice, you have a few different options. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that shampoos and lotions with pyrethroids are usually the first choice for treating head lice.
“There are some ways to treat lice that don’t involve medicine, but they haven’t been approved by the FDA or clinical trials,” says Margaret Quinn, a clinical associate professor at the Rutgers School of Nursing. The AAP also makes it clear that neither the FDA nor the AAP has approved or endorsed them for this use. Some of these are
- Vaseline
- Oil from olives
- Melted butter or margarine
- Mayonnaise
Fisher says ,”These can coat and suffocate the lice, but they’re not considered as effective as pyrethroids.”
According to the CDC, the following is also a good idea:
- Items that the infected person used up to two days before treatment, like hats, scarves, pillow cases, bedding, clothing, and towels, should be washed and dried in a machine.
- Items that can’t be washed can be dry-cleaned or put in a plastic bag for two weeks.
- Hairs from an infected person may be on furniture and floors (that could have nits attached).
Lice can be hard to completely get rid of.
It can be a lot of work to get rid of lice. The CDC says that for a pyrethroid treatment to work, it needs to be used again in nine or ten days. Fisher says you’ll also need to use a special comb on the hair and try to pull out any nits you see. “That is important,” she says. (Otherwise, the nits could start to grow again and cause problems.) But Fisher says, “The combing out and picking at the details can be very boring.”
A pediatrician at Connecticut Children’s, Dr. Jennifer Haile, told Yahoo Life that you should look at everyone in the house as a possible lice target. “The most important thing is to make sure that, if you have close friends in the house, you treat those friends and the house in the right way,” she says. “Anything you can’t wash or vacuum needs to stay in a sealed plastic bag for two weeks. You don’t want to make anyone else sick.”
Dr. Fred Archer, a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and with UBMD Pediatrics, tells Yahoo Life that this whole process can take a while. “If you don’t get another infection, it can take between 14 and 21 days for an infection to go away completely,” he says. “The first round of topical treatments gets rid of most of the active lice and nits, but 20% to 30% can still be left behind.”
Lice can affect anyone.
According to data from the CDC, between 6 million and 12 million cases of head lice happen each year in the U.S. in children ages 3 to 11. The CDC says it’s most common in preschoolers who go to daycare, elementary schoolers, and family members of infected children.
Fisher says, “It happens more often in younger kids because they are more likely to be all over each other.” Still, “lice affects all homes, all demographics, and all people,” says Quinn. “Everyone can get lice.”
If lice come into your house, you should be careful. Dr. Gary Reschak, a pediatrician at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, tells Yahoo Life that living with a child or adult who has head lice makes it easier for the lice to spread from one person to another.
Fisher says that if your child gets lice, you should also look for signs of it on yourself. “If your child has been near you, laid on your pillow, or used your hairbrush, it’s smart to do the same thing and wash your bedding and clothes in hot water,” she says.
Haile says, “If you don’t stop it, it won’t leave the house. It can be very frustrating.”
