If you have a child in school, you probably know what head lice are. If you are lucky enough not to have firsthand experience of it, thank your lucky stars and learn the facts about how to kill these parasites and how they are spread before your child is infected.
Pediculosis, more commonly known as Head Lice are tiny little bugs. They are about the size of sesame seeds. They are brown or gray in color. They have 6 legs and claws. These claws are how they can hook onto our scalp so well. They can only live on a human scalp.
Although, they are annoying they are not life threatening. They also are not considered a disease, therefore their abundance are not tracked by the Center of Disease Control therefore it is hard to estimate just how many people are affected annually. Yet, schools have estimated that about 12 to 25 million children are affected each year.
They only way a person can get Head Lice is through direct contact with someone who has had them all ready or the belongings of a person with the problem.
Having that is not a sign that a person is unclean or lives in poor surroundings. In fact, the cleaner ones head is the better they like it.
Signs that one is infected with head lice are clear: itchy scalp, itchiness around the ears, back of the neck or the crown of one’s head. Yet, a person can be infected with this and never itch at all, especially if they have been exposed to the problem in the past.
Remember that it is not life threatening. But if one has a severe itchiness from the lice and continues to scratch, the scratching action can cause one to tear the skin of the scalp, allowing bacteria to enter and thus causing an infection.
If you suspect you or a family member may have head lice, it is easy to diagnose. Check the persons head and look for nits (white, tiny eggs). These units are usually found about a half of inch away from the scalp.
Once you spot these nits, then you know an infestation of head lice has occurred and it is time to take action.
It takes three steps to completely treat a case of getting it.
First, you must remove the nits from the person’s scalp. To do this, manually pick and comb out each nit from the person’s scalp. You should then treat the scalp with a special shampoo type agent made just for killing head lice. Follow the instructions that come with the shampoo or kit.
Once you have treated the scalp, it is now time to treat the environment. Be sure to wash all the clothes the person has worn recently, as well as his/her bed linens. You may also want to put any stuff animals he/she has played with recently in a plastic bag for a few days.
Remember Head Lice is extremely common in school age children. They are not a sign that your child is dirty or that your home is dirty.
Remember that they are just annoying bugs that have been with us since the cave days. For this reason, we all should know the facts about how they spread and how to remove them.
Jeffrey Meier of Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.Jam727.com offers information articles on Head Lice at http://www.jam727.com/headlice/head_lice_articles.htm
Tags: head lice, head lice fix, treating head lice
