They infest children’s heads and seem to be resistant to any attempt to prevent their unwelcome arrival: they are head lice, now ubiquitous in schools and communities such as nurseries and gyms. Here are the 20 tips to get to know them and fight them with the help of the Center For Lice Control.

The louse is a forced parasite: it does not survive for long if not on a human being. The species that infests the hair of children (and adults) is not even able to survive on animals: it needs man, whose blood is nourished by pricking the scalp. The itching caused by lice is not due, as popular belief, to dirt, but to the insect bites.

We must dispel the myth that lice infest people with poor personal hygiene. In fact, the cleaner the hair is, the easier it is for the lice to ‘take root’ and to deposit their eggs at the root of them. The life cycle of the louse occurs through three stages and lasts about a month.

It starts from the egg, which when hatching, gives rise to the nymphs, immature forms of the adult parasite. The nymph is very small and reddish, while the adult louse is dark and 2-4 mm long. The adult louse lays the eggs that they hatch after 8-10 days reproducing the cycle.

Head lice do not transmit infectious diseases. Certainly, if they are numerous, they can induce scratching injuries which in turn can become infected. In some cases allergic reactions may also occur. Better to have a head lice professional removal soon.

The parasite survives for about a month on a person’s head but no more than 48 hours on objects and in the environment. Eggs can survive longer away from the scalp but are unable to ripen and hatch if they are not kept at a temperature similar to that of human skin. This means that it is very difficult for the parasite to arrive on the head of a child passing through the environment.

Lice place the eggs at the root of the hair and in particular on the nape, behind the ears and sometimes at the root of the fringe. It is often difficult to see the adult insect, unless the infestation is already advanced: on the contrary, there are many eggs, which have a translucent white or sometimes dark brown appearance and are tightly attached to the base of the hair.

The louse eggs can be confused with dandruff. To understand the difference, just try to eliminate them from the hair with a small shock. The dandruff will fall while the lice egg will remain firmly glued to the stem. An alarm signal for parents is certainly the itch.

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