School + Winter Coats + Scarves = Head Lice

Here’s the scenario: Your child comes home from school or daycare, complaining of an itchy scalp. You check and find little flakes on her clothing.

Before you run down to the store to buy dandruff shampoo, take a closer look at those flakes. Little Susie’s dandruff may actually be head lice, and until you treat her and the house to rid the pests, and other parents at the school do the same, odds are high that other members of your house will be scratching their heads in the near future, too.

Head lice are insects that live on the hair, eyebrows and eyelashes of humans. Like ticks, adult lice need blood to live. Once the infestation begins, they lay eggs, which hatch and the whole cycle starts over again.  

Folklore dictated that head lice results from a person's poor personal hygiene— you may remember hearing the term “cooties” (which referred to head lice)—it doesn't.

 Since school children share close quarters, there’s a jumble of coats, hats and the passing of brushes in PE class…basically all the makings for an outbreak of head lice. If one child gets it, and it goes untreated, it won’t take long for other members of the class to start suffering.

If you get a note home that there has been an outbreak of lice in your child’s school, take the following steps:

• When the note comes home, check your child even if he shows no sign of lice. Also check other members of your household.

-Use a flashlight

-Check around the ears and at the nape of the neck as it’s easier to spot in these areas.

• If you see signs of lice, buy an over-the-counter kit from the local pharmacy and treat, being vigilant in following instructions.

-Don’t rush the process. Shampoo to kill the living lice and use a special comb to remove nits, the eggs that remain. Those nits will not be washed out. They’ll hatch into new lice and all of your work will be for naught.

• Do the same for other members of the household who are infected.
• Once you’ve treated the child and family members for head lice, treat the house.

-Vacuum or steam clean sofas, carpeting, stuffed animals. Look at everything the child’s head can rest on, even car seats, as they act as a resting place for the lice until they can get to a warm, dark place. For whatever reason, lice won’t bother cats and dogs.

Eggs take  up to 14 days to hatch, but usually within 7-10. To live, adult lice need to feed on blood. If the lice fall off a person, they will die within two days. The adults’ life span is approximately one month, and eggs can survive on clothing for a month.

-Strip beds and wash all sheets and blankets.

-Clean brushes, combs, clothing, scarves and anything that could have come in contact with the infected person.

• About 10 days later, per the instructions on the product you use, retreat.

Here are some local articles and fact sheets on tips, tricks and info on dealing with head lice:

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/health/healthservices/children/headlice.html

http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/000840.htm

http://www.edcp.org/factsheets/headlice.cfm