Fighting head lice, starting from scratch

What can cause children to scratch their heads this time of year? No one wants to talk about it. Not even your closest friends.

It’s pediculosis capitis – the scientific name for head lice. This parasitic insect is between two and five millimeters long, about half the length of a grain of rice, and has been known to bring parents – and schools – to their knees in attempts to get rid of it.

“The no-nit policy in Post Falls is district-wide,” said Susan Thomas, a registered nurse for the Post Falls School District. “This means that any student contracting head lice will be excluded from school, until the nurse or trained office staff determines the child is nit-free.” This policy is necessary, because head lice medication does not kill all of the nits, and new eggs can hatch regardless of treatment.

What do head lice feed on you might wonder? Lice thrive on your scalp. They are found most often in preschool- through elementary-age students, because children play close together, and have more personal contact than adults.

One of the myths about lice is that a person is vulnerable to these parasites in the fall. In reality, lice are a pest that your child can contract anytime of year.

Another myth is that lice can jump, according to Cindy Perry, a registered nurse for the Coeur d’Alene School District, “I think the most common fallacy is that folks think that lice can fly and jump. In 10 years of keeping records, the only time we can document actual spread is when kids have slept together.”

But they are more commonly spread through direct contact with an infected person, or by using their hat, bedding, furniture, hair brushes or car seats, where nits (lice eggs) and adult lice can live up to two days.

How do you know if your child has lice? A note may come home from school that he has been exposed to head lice in the classroom. Or, you may get a phone call from school personnel stating that lice or nits have been detected on his or her head. In the latter case, the student and other siblings will be kept isolated, until you come get them. “We do usually carefully check classes when we have a child with lice. Sometimes parents think the children got them at school, but we just don’t find anyone they would have got them from in the classrooms,” said Perry.

You might find the lice yourself. If you notice your child scratching his head often, look through his hair to see if you spot any lice or nits. It may look like your child has dandruff, but a type that does not flake off. Unlike dandruff, nits are difficult to remove; they are small, white to chocolate-brown oval-shaped eggs that are glued to the hair near the scalp.

A third myth about lice is that they are contracted due to poor hygiene. Washing your hair with regular shampoo will not prevent or kill lice. The only way to get rid of lice is to use a lice control medication like Nix or RID, which kills the adults, and carefully comb through the hair with a good nit comb like Lice Meister.

“We have found the most effective forms of treatment (following the lice shampoo treatment and comb out) is to check your child’s head daily, until you are completely convinced that the head lice are gone. Many times at the 10-to-14-day range, we are seeing what seems to be another break out, but through the years have determined it’s probably just a hatching of those nits that were missed,” said Perry.

The nits are easier to spot than nymphs (immature adult), or live adult head lice, and picking out every nit is important if your child is going to get back into school. “They are frustrating, pesky and icky, however, they are not life-threatening,” said Perry.