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Welcome to Headlice Help!
I had never thought too much about headlice until recently when my two grandchildren were found to be infected. Their mother and I have been doing a lot of reserach on these pesky critters.
Headlice Facts
Head lice (pediculosis capitis) is a very common, highly contagious condition that often occurs in nurseries, day care centres, and schools. It is caused by infestation with the human head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis, and it can be very itchy.
Lice are very small insects that feed on human blood, head lice do not have wings or jumping legs so they cannot fly or jump from head to head. They can only crawl. A female louse will lay between three to eight eggs (nits) per day in the hair, within 1.5cm of the scalp at the base of hair shafts. The eggs (nits) hatch 8–10 days later. These eggs resemble dandruff but cannot be brushed off. While the adult louse cannot survive more than 2 days off of the human head, a nit can stay alive for up to a month off the body (on clothes, hairbrushes, or carpets, for example). Lice can spread from child to child by close personal contact and by sharing belongings.
People get head lice from direct head to head contact with another person who has head lice. This can happen when people play, cuddle or work closely together. Head lice are most common among children and their families. If your family has head lice, tell anyone who has had head to head contact with them, so that they can check and treat their family if needed. There is no need to treat the whole family, unless they also have head lice.
Headlice Symptoms
Possible symptoms of head lice infestation is an itchy scalp, although some people don't feel itchy, so it is fair to say that all itching scalps may not be due to headlice, but other problems
Other syptoms maybe be visible nits in the hair and dirty pillows due to louse droppings.Diagnosis
More often than not, head lice are found on children when an outbreak occurs at school or child care centres. Parents and teachers may notice the minute eggs on the child's hair. Parents should notify the school if they find headlice on their child so that teachers can alert other parents to be on the lookout and offer some documentations on treating headlice at home.
Careful examination of the head will reveal how advanced the outbreak. Eggs are not difficult to see if you use a strong light and look on the hair strands. Newly laid eggs are usually within 1.5 cm of the scalp while older eggs are higher up the hair shafts.