NationStates Jolt Archive

For years schools have treated head lice like the plague. A student was immediately sent home until the critters were dead. Because of this many students missed many days of class.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7176549

It has been known by medicine for some time that head lice are rather innocuous little creatures. They spread no known disease. They only spread through direct contact with combs or putting heads together. They don't jump or fly. The only thing they do is cause itch and aesthetic looks. People with some genetics can't even get head lice.

It has been found that a student at home is in more danger than a student in school with head lice.

Isn't it time that we follow the science rather than the tradition. Leave the students in school and ask them to treat head lice at home after school.

Actually, lice can spread disease.

I agree 100%

You're an idiot. Really.

Who?

You're an idiot. Really.

-snip-

That should also help to alleviate the social stigma of the affliction among the poorer children.

Actually, lice can spread disease.

We're talking head lice not body lice. See if you can find a disease spread by head lice.

We're talking head lice not body lice. See if you can find a disease spread by head lice.

Oh...I thought they both carried the same things?

My bad.

There was one time I thought I had lice, but it turns out it was just rice that was thrown after my aunt's wedding.

what I want to know is: In an environment where none of the students have head lice, where the hell do the head lice come from?

I think someone is fucking with us.

...*rubs chin thoughtfully*...hmm....

Actually, lice can spread disease.

Typhus, for one.

Who?

The OP. Head lice are actually a public health problem.

They spread rather rapidly through a school though, kids tend to share a lot.

Apparently I was one of those sad children who couldnt get lice.
I used to wish for little white bugs all day. I could stand itch, I couldnt stand math :P
Alas, I missed not a single day of school due to lice. Of course, my parents most likely would have simply shaved my head and sent me back the same day. They were of the "100.9 degree fever? You can still go to school." sort.

I was deathly afraid of the little buggers as a kid. I still remember the school nurse telling us class of 5 yr olds that the lice can and will burrow into your skin given half a chance and from there right into your flesh (and possibly brain!) where they're impossible to remove.

I was scared me half to death I was I was when I got a bad dose of them a couple of years later.

What the... people still have head lice? Where? Are we talking about 3rd world countries here?

Yes, and lets feed the students Beer at lunch.

What the... people still have head lice? Where? Are we talking about 3rd world countries here?

No... why is it so surprising? An outbreak'd happen like... every year or so in my primary school.

What the... people still have head lice? Where? Are we talking about 3rd world countries here?

No, lice are sometimes a problem in grade schools.

I don't know about disease, but head lice are maddening. The itch they cause is so, so annoying.

No... why is it so surprising? An outbreak'd happen like... every year or so in my primary school.

You've got to be kidding!
I remember my grandmother telling me that in her days, people would sometimes have headlice, but that was decades ago. I've never heard of that in my life

No, lice are sometimes a problem in grade schools.

Where?

what I want to know is: In an environment where none of the students have head lice, where the hell do the head lice come from?

I think someone is fucking with us.

...*rubs chin thoughtfully*...hmm....
Italians.
They made the Desert Battles such an unhygenic place.

I think many overprotective parents will get rather annoyed if there kids catch lice from school and pull them out every time they appear anyway so its better for one kid to miss school than 60

That said I never caught lice in school but thanks to my luck I caught them just as I finished school and I know exactly who gave them to me :mad:

I've had head lice... three times I think, the last time was when I was fifteen, and my gf, who'd just picked them up off her little sister's friend, gave them too me.

My hair had just started getting long, so combing it out was a bitch.

In other news: children with head lice should be sent home. They'd miss what, two days at most? Meh.

Where?

well here we still get them

I hated getting head lice... mainly because my mum would refuse to use any of the chemical products that can kill the lice and the eggs in one or two washes. So it would be around about 4 days of combing my inherrently tangle-prone hair with a fine toothed nit comb. Fun. :mad:

The freakiest moment I've ever had with head lice is when I was in class and a the guy next to me was reading the text book and nit fell out of his hair and started scrabbling about on pages of the textbook. He shut the book pretty hard and opened it again on the next page. Made me laugh pretty loud which got us both in trouble as we were meant to be silent. The joys of history classes.

well here we still get them

:eek: Sorry, but I really find that scary. I never had headlice in my life, nor have I ever heard of anybody having any in all the schools I went to.

I hated getting head lice... mainly because my mum would refuse to use any of the chemical products that can kill the lice and the eggs in one or two washes. So it would be around about 4 days of combing my inherrently tangle-prone hair with a fine toothed nit comb. Fun. :mad:

A comb is far superior to chemicals. The chemicals work maybe half, if only a third of the time. The comb will, if used properly, work nearly every single time.

And the chemicals won't make it better either.

So thank your mother for not dumping chemicals on your brain :o

:eek: Sorry, but I really find that scary. I never had headlice in my life, nor have I ever heard of anybody having any in all the schools I went to.

i hear it from my sister who works for ABC as er i forgot what she is now but she good at her job of looking after kids

:eek: Sorry, but I really find that scary. I never had headlice in my life, nor have I ever heard of anybody having any in all the schools I went to.
a) You're scared by headlice?
b) The fact that you've never had them doesn't mean they've been wiped out in the Western World.

Leave the students in school and ask them to treat head lice at home after school.
Then that would help them to spread to all the children, and you'd never get rid of them. Child A gives them to Child B, who gives them to Child C, who gives them back to Child A, who had just got rid of them.

Where?

They're quite common over here in Blighty...
Edit: Mostly in Primary schools. They don't seem to happen in secondary schools much, despite secondaries being bigger.

I suggest we decapitate the children. No head? No headlice. QED.

a) You're scared by headlice?
b) The fact that you've never had them doesn't mean they've been wiped out in the Western World.


a) Yes.
b) Actually, that had been my impression, yes. Since people started washing and combing regularly....

b) Actually, that had been my impression, yes. Since people started washing and combing regularly....

it's like Rats on a man of war you think you got them all only to find out there still there

a) Yes.
b) Actually, that had been my impression, yes. Since people started washing and combing regularly....

a) Don't be. They hardly ever burrow in to your skull and eat your brains.
b) Combing (with a normal comb) don't get 'em, and neither does washing (with normal shampoo). Cleanliness doesn't make much odds.

a) Yes.
b) Actually, that had been my impression, yes. Since people started washing and combing regularly....

You might want to move, they make appearances in primary schools here every now and then.

a) Don't be. They hardly ever burrow in to your skull and eat your brains.
b) Combing (with a normal comb) don't get 'em, and neither does washing (with normal shampoo). Cleanliness doesn't make much odds.

Well, then how come I've never before heard of people having headlice in this day and age? Not in my entire time at school, not at university,not in my work with Youth groups, not from my friends, my siblings, my cousins, not from anybody?

Well, then how come I've never before heard of people having headlice in this day and age? Not in my entire time at school, not at university,not in my work with Youth groups, not from my friends, my siblings, my cousins, not from anybody?

who knows

Well, then how come I've never before heard of people having headlice in this day and age? Not in my entire time at school, not at university,not in my work with Youth groups, not from my friends, my siblings, my cousins, not from anybody?

No idea. It does seem odd.
They cropped up at my primary school (in a village in Northamptonshire); both my sister and I got them, at least once. They crop up at the primary school Mum works at (in a town in Northamptonshire).

I don't remember them cropping up in secondary school ('cos they're populated with a bunch of anti-social teenagers, probably) or work, so maybe if you missed them in primary school you won't hear about them?

Is this thread making your head itch, or is that just Monday morning?

No idea. It does seem odd.
They cropped up at my primary school (in a village in Northamptonshire); both my sister and I got them, at least once. They crop up at the primary school Mum works at (in a town in Northamptonshire).

I don't remember them cropping up in secondary school ('cos they're populated with a bunch of anti-social teenagers, probably) or work, so maybe if you missed them in primary school you won't hear about them?

Is this thread making your head itch, or is that just Monday morning?

Hey, this thread is making me itch all over! I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to parasites...

My mom and one of my aunts are teachers, both only ever heard of headlice from stories their parents would tell.

Well, then how come I've never before heard of people having headlice in this day and age? Not in my entire time at school, not at university,not in my work with Youth groups, not from my friends, my siblings, my cousins, not from anybody?
I guess the question to ask you here is, 'How often had you gone around asking your school, university, youth groups, your family, friends, siblings, cousins (I was under the impression that siblings and cousins were part of a family but never mind), anybody...about headlice?'

It's not something most people prefer to chat about (due mostly to the amount of misinformation out there). So no-one bringing the topic up unannounced doesn't mean it doesn't occur.
People prefer not to talk about potentially embarassing personal health issues.
for eg. How often have you ever had a discussion with any of the above about haemorrhoids? I'm willing to bet that someone in the groups you mentioned suffers from them.

I'd say the reason why kids are still sent home is not because the schools are frighten that they're going to see mass infections followed by deaths from the 'brain-burrowing' monsters that are head lice. No, I reckon it's a health and safety issue related to:
1. Insurance. The school might be opening itself to getting sued for not providing a safe environment for it's students.
2. Appeasement of other students' parents. Sending one kid home might anger that one student's parents, but letting them stay in class will anger a couple of dozen other students' parents.

Is this thread making your head itch, or is that just Monday morning?

could be Monday morning for you lot

I guess the question to ask you here is, 'How often had you gone around asking your school, university, youth groups, your family, friends, siblings, cousins (I was under the impression that siblings and cousins were part of a family but never mind), anybody...about headlice?'

It's not something most people prefer to chat about (due mostly to the amount of misinformation out there). So no-one bringing the topic up unannounced doesn't mean it doesn't occur.
People prefer not to talk about potentially embarassing personal health issues.
for eg. How often have you ever had a discussion with any of the above about haemorrhoids? I'm willing to bet that someone in the groups you mentioned suffers from them.



Given that kids and school are a frequent topic in my family (my mom being a teacher), and also given that no mom would like to talk about their kid having lice, but most would happily discuss the fact that a kid in their kids class or a kid in the neighbourhood had them, chances are I would have heard of at least one case, don't you think?

Hey, this thread is making me itch all over! I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to parasites...

My mom and one of my aunts are teachers, both only ever heard of headlice from stories their parents would tell.

Well, if you want a parasite then headlice are the ones to go for.

That seems really strange. Here they're just one of those things kids get occasionally, like chickenpox. No long-term damage is done, nobody really worries.

What the... people still have head lice? Where? Are we talking about 3rd world countries here?

they traveled around daycares when I was a child, the only defense I had from them was to wear a ton of hair product, apparently the little things like a clean head. (although that's the exact opposite of what I thought, I thought it was the dirty kids who got them......)

it seemed harder for the poor families to treat lice, they had more kids, more bedding, less money for shampoo, and less time to strip the house and wash it down.

:eek: Sorry, but I really find that scary. I never had headlice in my life, nor have I ever heard of anybody having any in all the schools I went to.

I didn't have head lice when I was a kid, because we had regular head inspections from 'the nit nurse' but my own three kids all had at least one dose of them as they went through school, and the girls had the longest hair and it was a total pan in the ass to get rid of the bloody disgusting little things. I would get rid of them, only to have the girls catch them again, and always from the same kids who's parents didn't give a rats ass. It is a real problem now in schools in England. I worked in a primary school, and sometimes you could actually see the lice moving about in children's hair, we used to send them home, but now we are not allowed to, so a general 'there have been cases of head lice reported, please check your child' letter would have to go home to everyone, so nobody got 'singled out' and lo and behold, the kids with the lice infestation (I really mean that) just kept giving them to the other kids all the time...disgusting.

Go here to see if they can spread disease

http://www.headlice.org/faq/questions.htm

Apparently, it's possible.

I just chatted with a friend of mine from back home, who was an au pair in England a few years back.
She said that the kids in the family where she worked had lice... she paniked completely, as she had never seen this before either, but according to the mom of the family it was kind of normal.
She's from a large family (5 kids) herself and had never heard of anybody having headlice, and one of her sisters who works in a Kindergarden in Germany was just as shocked and appalled as we were at the mere thought...

Lice don't seem to like Germans. :D

I just chatted with a friend of mine from back home, who was an au pair in England a few years back.
She said that the kids in the family where she worked had lice... she paniked completely, as she had never seen this before either, but according to the mom of the family it was kind of normal.
She's from a large family (5 kids) herself and had never heard of anybody having headlice, and one of her sisters who works in a Kindergarden in Germany was just as shocked and appalled as we were at the mere thought...

Lice don't seem to like Germans. :D

that be right :(

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
ARMED FORCES PEST MANAGEMENT BOARD
FOREST GLEN SECTION, WRAMC
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20307-5001


September 17, 1992

Ms. Deborah Altschuler, President
National Pediculosis Association
P.O. Box 149
Newton, MA 02161


Dear Ms. Altschuler:

The AFPMB has completed its review of the volume of reprints you provided for us on lice and disease. Thank you for putting the package together for us.

Three reviewers from our Medical Entomology Committee reviewed and independently submitted their analyses of the reprints. The results of review were presented to the Medical Entomology Committee, and subsequently submitted to the AFPMB Council at our July meeting. The Medical Entomology Committee concluded that, based on the literature reviewed, the head louse potentially can serve as a secondary vector of normal louse-borne diseases, particularly epidemic typhus and louse-borne fever. However, the primary vector of both these diseases, based on epidemiological evidence, is the body louse.

Please note that neither of these diseases are considered to be of military operational importance. However, they are of interest in selected situations -- refugee situations, prisoner of war camps, and in developing countries. These conclusions only address vector-borne disease status, not pediculosis in its own right. Pediculosis per se is not considered military significant because it does not have the potential to be a war-stopper.

:eek: Sorry, but I really find that scary. I never had headlice in my life, nor have I ever heard of anybody having any in all the schools I went to.

Happened several times in my school as a kid, though I never caught them. It's not a big deal, just some little mites that itch. Not like ticks which spread disease more readily. Awful blood sucking little bastards.

Why don't we send kids home with a common cold as soon as they get the sniffles. It would seem that the common cold is far more dangerous than head lice.

Why don't we send kids home with a common cold as soon as they get the sniffles. It would seem that the common cold is far more dangerous than head lice.

Wrong.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
ARMED FORCES PEST MANAGEMENT BOARD
FOREST GLEN SECTION, WRAMC
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20307-5001


September 17, 1992

Ms. Deborah Altschuler, President
National Pediculosis Association
P.O. Box 149
Newton, MA 02161


Dear Ms. Altschuler:

The AFPMB has completed its review of the volume of reprints you provided for us on lice and disease. Thank you for putting the package together for us.

Three reviewers from our Medical Entomology Committee reviewed and independently submitted their analyses of the reprints. The results of review were presented to the Medical Entomology Committee, and subsequently submitted to the AFPMB Council at our July meeting. The Medical Entomology Committee concluded that, based on the literature reviewed, the head louse potentially can serve as a secondary vector of normal louse-borne diseases, particularly epidemic typhus and louse-borne fever. However, the primary vector of both these diseases, based on epidemiological evidence, is the body louse.

Please note that neither of these diseases are considered to be of military operational importance. However, they are of interest in selected situations -- refugee situations, prisoner of war camps, and in developing countries. These conclusions only address vector-borne disease status, not pediculosis in its own right. Pediculosis per se is not considered military significant because it does not have the potential to be a war-stopper.
__________________
We should remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school. - Thucydides

I was deathly afraid of the little buggers as a kid. I still remember the school nurse telling us class of 5 yr olds that the lice can and will burrow into your skin given half a chance and from there right into your flesh (and possibly brain!) where they're impossible to remove.

I was scared me half to death I was I was when I got a bad dose of them a couple of years later.

Reminds me of the time the school nurse came into our sex education class to tell all the guys that any bump on your penis was most likely genital warts, that it couldnt be cured, and that if you ever had sex you would spread it to that person.
Of course, this was the same school that the history teacher spelled 'Afghanistan' with a PH in.

Well, then how come I've never before heard of people having headlice in this day and age? Not in my entire time at school, not at university,not in my work with Youth groups, not from my friends, my siblings, my cousins, not from anybody?

I have no idea... seriously.

You know what? If my kid has a cough or fever,I keep him home so other kids dont get it.

If your kid has lice,keep him home and deal with it-I dont want to share.

When I was a kid in school,the same kids had it every year. And their siblings that were in my younger brother's classes had it too.

It doesnt take a village-just take care of your freaking kids. I dont need to share your pain and filth.

It doesnt take a village-just take care of your freaking kids. I dont need to share your pain and filth.

One of the problems is head lice don't like dirt. They tend to infect clean heads as much as than dirty ones.

And some people are more prone than others. (just like a common cold) It can make a difference if you have curly or straight hair.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6556831#6555975

Myths About Head Lice

by Vikki Valentine

Head lice and humans go way back; the parasites have been found with their little claws locked around prehistoric mummy hair. And our eons-long relationship has given us plenty of time to build up myths about lice, too. Here, Harvard lice expert Richard Pollack dispels some of the most persistent folklore:

Dirty Kids Spread Lice: Head lice have no preference for dirty hair or clean hair. "If you wash your hair three times a day or more, the lice on your head will just be clean lice," Pollack says.

Pets Spread Lice: Human head-lice infestations don't come from pets -- our lice only like our blood.

Brushes Spread Lice: Combs, brushes, headphones, hats and helmets have very little role in spreading lice. It's all the tumbling, playing and hugging that does it. In the vast majority of cases, lice are spread by direct head-to-head contact.

Clean House to Get Rid of Lice: If your house is dusty or dirty, go ahead and clean, says Pollack. But that won't prevent or cure a lice infestation. The parasites can't survive for more than a day without a meal of human blood, and they generally aren't going to let go of your hair to hang out on your couch. Changing bed linens or vacuuming a car seat can only help, but chances of a louse being on a bed or a car seat are incredibly small.

Shave Heads: "It's like using a cannon to kill a housefly," Pollack says. Completely shaving a head will get rid of lice eggs, but Pollack says that's a needless tactic when there are so many other effective and less drastic ways to solve the problem.

Head Lice Can Kill: Nope, that would be body lice. Those parasites do thrive in dirty environments and are perhaps most infamous for spreading deadly typhus in the 19th century. Head lice just make you itch.

Coat Your Head in Vaseline: Some people swear by the Vaseline or olive-oil treatments -- the idea is to suffocate the lice. But lice are extremely hard to suffocate, and to date, no studies have evaluated the efficacy of either substance. "Why not chose something that's been tested and shown to work?" Pollack says.

Insecticide Shampoos Can Be Toxic: "The only ones who should fear the proper use of these products are lice," says Pollack. Look for FDA-registered over-the-counter treatments containing pyrethrin, which is a natural chrysanthemum abstract, or permethrin, which is the synthetic form. If your lice appear to be resistant to those, the next step is a prescription shampoo containing either malathion or lindane. "When used properly, they are valuable and low-risk pesticides," Pollack says.

Manual Removal Is Safest: If you have short, straight hair, a special comb on its own could take care of an infestation. "If my daughter, who has thick, shoulder-length hair, had head lice, and I tried to use any of these devices on her, the neighbors would call the cops, it would cause so much discomfort and pain."



http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html#harm

Do head lice cause harm? Head lice rarely (if ever) cause direct harm, and they are not known to transmit infectious agents from person-to-person. Thus, they should not be considered as a medical or a public health problem. These lice may occasionally be burdensome because of annoyance; their presence may cause itching and loss of sleep. The louse's saliva and feces may sensitize people to their bites, thereby exacerbating the irritation and increasing the chance of secondary infection from excessive scratching.

The greatest harm associated with head lice results from the well-intentioned but misguided use of caustic or toxic substances to eliminate the lice. A few lice on the head should not cause alarm; rather, they present an opportunity for parents to spend the needed time with their children in order to find and remove the offending insects. Grooming can be an effective method to remove lice, and engenders several associated physiological and behavioral benefits as well. Because of unfounded fears, some parents have suggested that children refrain from sharing protective batting or biking helmets. The miniscule risk of acquiring lice from such devices pales in comparison to the hazards averted by helmets.

they traveled around daycares when I was a child, the only defense I had from them was to wear a ton of hair product, apparently the little things like a clean head. (although that's the exact opposite of what I thought, I thought it was the dirty kids who got them......)

it seemed harder for the poor families to treat lice, they had more kids, more bedding, less money for shampoo, and less time to strip the house and wash it down.Any creature will find it easier to survive in a clean environment as there are less bacteria around that can infect the creature. However, kids with dirty may be more likely to have lice if their very lax with hair grooming. ie. if they get headlice then their parents don't bother to treat their children. Hence why it could be percieved that dirty children are more likely to have lice.

Maybe...

For years schools have treated head lice like the plague. A student was immediately sent home until the critters were dead. Because of this many students missed many days of class.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7176549

It has been known by medicine for some time that head lice are rather innocuous little creatures. They spread no known disease. They only spread through direct contact with combs or putting heads together. They don't jump or fly. The only thing they do is cause itch and aesthetic looks. People with some genetics can't even get head lice.

It has been found that a student at home is in more danger than a student in school with head lice.

Isn't it time that we follow the science rather than the tradition. Leave the students in school and ask them to treat head lice at home after school.

i read an article on slate a month or 2 ago that said that many school districts have just that policy for just that reason.

i never thought that much about it, i was just glad that my son didnt ever get lice, its such a pain to irradicate from the home.

i never thought that much about it, i was just glad that my son didnt ever get lice, its such a pain to irradicate from the home.

Headlice are actually really easy to get rid of; a dose or two of headlice-killing shampoo or a thorough going-over with a nit comb. Problem solved. (Body lice may be much harder; no idea, never had them. I think they are very uncommon in the "civilised" world.)

The bits that fall off your head are either dead or soon will be, and therefore pose very little risk of re-infection. It's very unlikely you'll catch them from anything other than head-to-head contact.

i never thought that much about it, i was just glad that my son didnt ever get lice, its such a pain to irradicate from the home.
You think that's bad? When we moved into our most recent home, we didn't realise that the dog the family before had had had fleas. They were everywhere, and on us. We had to fumigate the house, or something, in the end.

One of the problems is head lice don't like dirt. They tend to infect clean heads as much as than dirty ones.

And some people are more prone than others. (just like a common cold) It can make a difference if you have curly or straight hair.

I used the word "filth" out of frustration-I'm a big proponent of stopping the transmission of viral,bacterial,parasitic and pest infections and infestations.

As soon as you are aware of a potentially contagious or transmittable condition in your family, it should be isolated and irradicated-not carelessly spread to others.

I went to school with a kid that always seemed to have conjunctivitis-"pink eye"-one of the most contagious infections there is.
I dont know wether his parents were ignorant or they didnt care-or both.

I keep my kids home and take care of them. They arent sick often anyway as they have decent hygiene and habits to begin with-no fingers in their mouths,they wash their hands when appropriate,etc...