Lice Identification

Thousands of children and adults get lice every year. These parasites can wreak havoc on a household and make for a lot of work. You have to spend many hours getting rid of them not just from a family member but often from your entire house. Local health departments get several calls a day from frustrated people asking for information and help.

Types

• There are four main types of lice: Head lice, body lice, pubic lice (or crab lice) and book lice. They are all classified as lice because of their body shape and the parasitic way they live. But as their names imply, each type lives in a different area and must be handled differently.

  Book lice do not live on humans or cause infection, but they do affect a household because of their love of wood, paper and books. They are difficult to find and get rid of.

Head Lice

• Schools often have outbreaks of head lice. They cannot jump or fly but are transmitted through direct head-to-head contact and by the sharing of combs, brushes and hats. There are natural ways to kill and repel the bugs and their eggs, called nits, and there are commercial pesticides put into shampoos that are commonly used as well. There are also prescription-strength treatments if over-the-counter and herbal methods don't work. Every treatment requires goinging through each strand of hair and removing the nits. Clothes and bedding and anything washable, like stuffed animals and curtains, will also need to be laundered. If all of these things aren't done, reinfestation is likely.

  The adult female attaches the nit to the hair and it takes about eight days to hatch. The baby louse, called a nymph, then takes about two weeks to mature into an adult. A female adult louse can lay up to 100 eggs, at a rate of about six per day. When removed from a human host, head lice can live only one to two days at room temperature.

Body Lice

• Body lice live in the seams of clothing and lays their eggs there as well. They are often called scabies and usually only crawl to the skin to feed on the blood of a host. The nits take a week to two weeks to hatch, then nine to 12 days to mature into an adult. Adult body lice are brown or off white and have six legs and an oval body. The symptoms of a body lice outbreak are itching and red dots on the skin, often resembling a common rash. They are only communicable through direct body contact or by sharing untreated clothes.

  Treatment is with special creams or lotions and either destroying or specially treating clothes. If a body louse is removed from a human host, it will die within five to seven days.

Pubic Lice

• Pubic lice are considered to be a sexually transmitted disease. They are similar to body lice in identification, but usually only affect the pubic area.The more common name for pubic lice is crabs or crab lice. Approximately 3 million new or reoccurring cases of pubic lice are reported yearly.

  The adult louse lays its egg and attaches it to the pubic hair, where the egg hatches six to 10 days later. The nymph then grows into an adult in about 15 days while feeding on the blood of its host. Teens and young adults are most prone to pubic lice.

Lice Facts and Myths

• The most common myth about lice is that head lice live only on dirty people. In fact, head lice actually prefer clean heads. When a head is dirty it is harder for the louse to feed on the blood of its host.

  It is only partially true that lice can be transmitted to humans by dogs or other animals. While lice do not live on other animals, they may use other animals to come into contact with humans. But they cannot survive on other animals and will die at their normal rate if not transferred to a human.

  Tea tree oil, vinegar, mayonnaise and olive oil are effective treatments and repellents, and are less harmful than pesticides and special soaps and shampoos.