As the presence of the ubiquitous 'nit' reaches its annual apex, so too do the publicity attempts by those marketing anti-louse treatments. To name just two examples, Lyclear is sending a guide on getting rid of head lice to all pre-schools and nurseries as well as information packs and posters to teachers, and Nice 'n Clear is inviting journalists to talk to the staff at Poplar Play Centre in London, where it says its treatment has been a success. The company's founders, who have seven children of their own, say they came across Neem oil, on which their lotion is based, on a trip to India and found it repelled 700 kinds of insects, including head lice.
At any one time within most nursery and school settings there will always be a number of children infected. Head lice are still considered a 'dirty' subject because people wrongly believe that they are a symptom of poor hygiene. So it's important to stress to parents that lice are just as common on clean hair, and that adults as well as children can be affected. And it's also important to stress that there is no final 'cure' to the problem - parents will need to check children's heads for as long as they are in primary education. The louse has been with us from the dawn of civilisation.
The head louse is a tiny greyish brown wingless insect about the size of a pin-head that feeds off blood from the scalp. It lays its eggs on the shaft of the hair, where they are cemented into place and remain, even after the louse has hatched, as tiny pearly sacs. Head lice take about 17 days to hatch, and then another seven to ten days to mature and start laying eggs. An adult can lay up to a dozen eggs a day, so one louse quickly leads to many.
Lice need warmth and need to feed regularly. They cannot jump or survive for more than 24 hours away from the head, so they are mainly spread by direct head-to-head contact. They can occasionally be transmitted via towels, hats and pillows.
Treatment
One way to treat lice is with insecticides in the form of sham- poos and lotions. The main insecticides in use are malathion, carbaryl, permethrin or phenothrin. Many parents are anxious about the repeated use of powerful insecticides on their children's heads, and lice may develop resistance locally to certain brands. In some areas the insecticide of choice is rotated around to help prevent resistance; your local pharmacist can advise. Some health authorities recommend a 'mosaic' method, using one chemical for the first round of treatment, another for the second, another for the third, and then back to the first again.
It's important that children are not treated 'just in case' but only after living lice have been detected. Each treatment should consist of two applications, a week apart, following instructions carefully. The dead lice are removed from the hair by combing with a fine 'nit' comb.
More 'natural' alternatives involve applying an oil or herbal extract and then nit combing. Such remedies include extracts of lavender and geranium, and olive and tea tree oils. Using slippery conditioners with thorough combing every day or two over a fortnight should remove the lice, if the combing covers every part of the head several times - lice can move about surprisingly quickly. Natural oils may simply make the hair slippery and the lice easier to remove, rather than killing them.
Nursery staff and parents should be on the lookout for any scratching or if a child says their head is itchy. It is a good idea for a nursery or school to have its own leaflet on head lice to hand out when a problem has been noticed, and perhaps organise a talk once a year to inform new parents. Videos and leaflets are available free from health authorities and there is plenty of up-to-date information on the internet at www.headliceadvice.netand at www.chc.orgor www.nits.net,sites of Community Hygiene Concern, which runs a National Bug Busting Day on 31 October.