Be careful - pediculosis! What is it, where do parasites come from, what do lice and nits look like and treatment rules

Both dandruff and lice exhibit the same symptoms – severe itching and redness of the skin. It is important not to miss this moment - to inspect the affected area to ensure the development of the disease - pediculosis - and take action. It is not so easy to get rid of nits, if only because these creatures are very tenacious and spread quickly and for a long time.

Due to the unpleasant sticky secretion, it will not be possible to comb out all the nits with a simple comb at one time. You need to use chemical compounds and be sure to seek help from a dermatologist. But you can alleviate your condition by regularly combing out the affected areas with fine-toothed combs, removing nits with your nails, pulling them off the hair.

In general, modern people have several ways to combat such a scourge as pediculosis. The main thing is to know who you are dealing with.

What is it and what do parasites look like, what color are they?

Nits can look like dandruff. Due to their very small size, parasites go unnoticed for a long time until suspicions arise that they are lice. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the surface of the head is strewn with eggs, and not adults. Unlike the latter, being constantly on the hair, nits (aka lice eggs) do not move along the skin like adult lice.

• Nits can reach up to 0.4–2.0 mm in size.
  The small pests are commonly called head lice. Pediculosis is immediately diagnosed in children. All eggs have a characteristic white shell and are shaped like a twisted rope. In linen lice, nits measure about 0.5 mm. They have a more oblong shape. Survivors can be found in the folds of clothing and furniture fabric. The darkest color of nits is characteristic of pubic lice with sharp edges.
• Lice are nasty blood-sucking parasites that live on the body of all mammals, including humans. Varieties of harmful insects have been identified in the natural environment, each of which is capable of parasitism in its habitat. For example, lice never spread from a person to a dog's fur.

To combat such a disease as nits, you need to decide which lice are dead and which are alive. It is necessary to carry out a number of preventive measures so that living individuals do not pass from one person to another. And it is important to carry out educational preventive work with children and parents to identify the disease and combat nits.

Lice, or pediculosis, a common diagnosis in modern children, can also spread to adults. And you shouldn’t think that lice are the lot of asocial individuals, people without a fixed place of residence. Anyone can face this problem.

The troubles that nits can cause depend on the type of lice. They are usually divided into several groups:

1. Head lice they like to live on the scalp, usually at the back of the head or at the temples. The parasites have a translucent appearance - they are a small obligate type of insect, a common parasite from the order Puchoidae. Their main diet is human blood. The female parasite is capable of laying about 10 eggs (nits) per day and living for more than a month. Nits are attached to the base of the hair with a sticky secretion.
   So, at one time you can detect up to 4-5 nits in one area. Lice have a strong mouthparts, so they bite through the skin and suck out blood. But at the same time, an irritating substance is released at the site of the bite, which causes severe itching of the head.

   After such bites, a person simply feels an incredible desire to scratch, scratching the area until there is blood and wounds, introducing infection into them. This is how the local inflammatory reaction manifests itself, redness and thickening appear, a crust appears at the site of scratching. And the infection is already spreading further - to neighboring lymph nodes.

2. Body lice cause a lot of troubles other than itching. They are carriers of dangerous diseases, such as typhus. The habitat of parasites is dresses in the closet, folds in clothes. This is where they lay their eggs.
3. Pubic lice (pubic lice) lead to phthiriasis - lice pubis. The parasites are dark brown in color and develop in the pubic and anal areas. Transmitted mainly through sexual contact. With strong body hair, parasites are able to move to other areas.

Appearance of lice

Lice are very small creatures, ranging in size from 0.4 to 5 mm, with a pronounced abdomen, but a small head and chest. The eyes are very small, vision is poor. Oriented by smell. Males are smaller than females. Surprisingly, lice have wings, but they are so small and atrophied that they are unable to fly.

The oral apparatus of lice is of the piercing-sucking type with a proboscis and two needles. When a louse feeds on blood, its proboscis extends from the head capsule and attaches itself to the puncture site of the skin. There are also hooks on the proboscis to securely fix the parasite on the victim’s body. When bitten, saliva is released, which prevents blood clotting and causes irritation and itching on the victim's skin.

Please note: lice cannot completely penetrate human skin. Only the proboscis penetrates the epidermis and pumps out blood.

Attachment to the hair is provided by tenacious and strong three pairs of legs with claws. Lice move at a speed of about 20 centimeters per minute. Lice attach their offspring in the form of nits (i.e. larvae) to the hair using a strong adhesive substance. The female can lay several hundred eggs, which will hatch in 4-16 days under comfortable conditions.

Photo

The photo shows lice and nits under a microscope.

Effective treatment

An effective way to get rid of lice is to use special lotions or sprays. These drugs - pediculicides - can get rid of lice in one application. If the infection is severe, it will take longer.

We offer medications for treatment: Medilis-BIO, Medilis-Malathion, Medilis-Permifen, Medilis-Super. Lotions are rubbed into the scalp, left on the hair for a certain time required for effect, after which the head is thoroughly washed. To remove nits and dead insects remaining in the hair, the hair must be combed thoroughly.

A spray differs from a lotion only in the form of application. Spraying the head is a more dangerous method, since with such application you can inhale a dangerous substance. It is not dangerous to humans in itself, but in high concentrations it can cause allergic reactions. Spray products are not recommended for use in the treatment of children, pregnant women, people suffering from asthma and respiratory diseases.

When using any means, you must follow safety precautions, in particular, protect your eyes from contact with toxic substances. Leave the product on your head for no more than the permitted time to prevent skin irritation and chemical burns. When processing, it is necessary to provide access to fresh air into the room; after processing, the room must be ventilated.

Each drug has instructions for use, which must be strictly followed.

These products are not suitable for treating pregnant and lactating women and children under 5 years of age. For them, it is better to use less dangerous folk remedies.

When using any products - professional or folk - in addition to the head, you need to treat combs, towels - everything that can come into contact with the hair and where lice can move.

Where do they come from on the hair?

Lice and nits do not fly or jump, but they can crawl and run well (and do not even drown in water).

Parasites move to a new victim by smell:

• The easiest way to literally get yourself into trouble is to use an object that has been touched by the patient. That is, lice move, again in plain text, from a diseased head to a healthy one due to:
• combs;

hats;

• headphones.

The main risk group is children who can get head lice. Moreover, most often children from 5 to 12 years old become victims of uninvited guests. This is explained by the fact that, perhaps, at this age they develop the perception of close communication and close contacts with peers, for example, in children's groups in preschool and school educational institutions.

The symptoms of pediculosis are always clear - it is enough to detect a living individual on a hair when examining the head with the naked eye (or with a magnifying glass).
And the detection of parasites itself is beyond doubt, especially if the hair is dark and not curly. Otherwise, determining the extent of damage visually will be a difficult task. Many people do not know what nits and lice can look like. To do this, you should study close-up photographs on the Internet. Not the most pleasant sight, but it gives a clear idea of ​​the dangers of parasites and their survivability.

If you suspect lice, comb your hair with a wide-toothed comb. This procedure can be conveniently done at home at any time. But treatment should be entrusted to a doctor.

It's time to figure out where nits and lice come from. There is a widely held theory that lice exist in every human body. Only they are in a sleeping state. And that under stress they are activated. But this is not true.

The intrusiveness of parasites is explained by only one fact - recent contact between a sick person and a healthy person (when the head or clothing comes into contact with the patient). And lice cling tightly to the hair with their claws. You can get parasites, as mentioned, through close contact with a person with lice.

What does this include:

• any public transport;
• cinemas and clubs;
• public swimming pools and baths;
• open reservoirs.

Parasites are not afraid of water, being able to calmly stay afloat until a new victim is discovered.
It is possible to get lice in a store or at a clothing market, while trying on a hat (if the hat has already been tried on by an infected person), and in a hairdresser, a hairdresser may forget or ignore the rule for treating tools before work and where the client sits. Pubic lice have their own “advantages”: they are transmitted directly through casual relationships or during overnight stays in nature, as well as in hotels and trains, if the linen has not been changed for a long time according to sanitary standards. You can become infected with body lice by exchanging clothes while on vacation with items that, for example, were purchased at a second-hand store.

The surge in head lice diseases among children increases after the holidays. Parents have to seek advice from a parasitologist so that he can dispel doubts - these are nits or dandruff on the child’s head, because not many will be able to distinguish one from the other.

Head lice are the most common disease among children. Parasites have their own life cycle:

1. It all starts with eggs (nits). And the cycle itself lasts from 5 to 7 days. The egg must mature before the larva develops into an adult.
2. Then comes the mating period, the female lays eggs, firmly attaching them to the hairline with the help of a sticky secretion.
3. Nits appear. Over the course of a lifetime, one female louse can lay about 120 nits, with a frequency of 4 to 5 per day.
4. Then the parasites hatch from the latter, and after one week they begin active reproduction.

And it becomes difficult not to notice these parasites - every day scratching the scalp brings you to white heat. And it will itch more and more intensely.

Since lice can only end up on one person’s head if they crawl from another, it
is important to follow the rules of hygiene:

• do not use other people’s things, beauty items, hairpins, elastic bands;
• stop visiting places such as a swimming pool or sauna.

Ignoring these simple rules is the most common cause of head lice in children's institutions:

• kindergartens;
• junior schools;
• shelters;
• camps;
• boarding schools

Reproduction

A single mating of adults leads to complete insemination of all eggs of the female, who will be able to lay more than hundreds of nits over the rest of her life. Re-pairing is not required.

If just one fertilized female louse lands on a person's hair, after two weeks there may be 10 to 50 lice on the head.

Within a few hours after insemination, the female begins to lay eggs, attaching them to her hair, about 2-5 eggs per day.

Louse lays eggs on hair

After 7–11 days, the upper lid of the egg bursts and the nymph hatches. She begins to suck blood almost immediately after hatching, thanks to which she reaches adulthood in 8 days. If the louse does not find a food source, after about 18 hours it loses its ability to suck blood due to dehydration and dies.

What threat do they pose?

Immature nits do not pose a serious threat. The exception is the condition of the person’s scalp and hair. Unattractiveness and sloppiness trigger the mechanism of parasitic activity. And white growths on the hair have never graced anyone, even if it’s just dandruff. But there are situations when the symptoms of head lice are too obvious and can negatively affect the quality of everyday life.

Characteristic symptoms of pediculosis:

• constant itching appears;
• redness remains;
• scratches do not go away and wounds do not heal;
• wounds become infected and suppurate;
• the day cycle is disrupted, it is impossible to sleep;
• general health worsens;
• Nervousness and irritability develop.

A complication of pediculosis is typhus (or age-related) typhus. Infection is dangerous to health, because the damaged skin as a result of the bite comes into contact with the vital activity of the parasite (its fluids, feces).

Unpleasant consequences will not be long in coming - infestation with lice and nits leads to general malaise and discomfort. And outwardly, the hair always looks dirty.

Above we discussed the differences between the types of lice and nits (head, body, etc.). We must give them their due - in the natural environment they do not interbreed and exist in isolation from each other. But in laboratory conditions, on the contrary, they produce very fertile offspring.

Outside the patient's head, lice can live up to two days without food. But if the ambient temperature drops to 10–12 degrees, then the pests can survive for up to ten days. Like other living creatures, lice and nits that live in human hair have several stages of development - from larvae to male and female individuals, ready to reproduce immediately.

What kind of disease is this

Pediculosis is a common name for a skin and hair disease caused by ectoparasites - lice. These small insects feed twice a day thanks to their sharp proboscis and suck out several mg of blood per day. After this, the color of the parasite changes from gray to red.

Human louse (photo)

Lice are able to crawl quickly, they cannot fly or jump. Parasites die at fairly high or low temperatures, as well as without human blood.

The ideal temperature for lice breeding is 28 degrees.

The disease is caused by three types of parasites:

1. Head ones. Found on the beard, eyelashes, head, eyebrows.
2. Clothes. Lice are observed in the folds of the skin.
3. Pubic. Habitat: pubic hair.

Having reached the hair, lice quickly multiply by laying eggs - nits. One individual can reproduce up to 10 eggs in 24 hours, which mature within a week.

Why can eggs be detected without the presence of adults?

Situations are different. Sometimes you can find dead nits on the scalp, apparently without the presence of live lice. There is an explanation for this - the death of lice and nits is caused by extreme exposure of the hair to aggressive agents. For example, this could be regular hair coloring, where peroxide (hydrogen peroxide) has been added to the dye content. This is what destroys parasites.

It is important to remember that at the first detection of nits on a hair, you should take measures to combat them on the entire scalp and use additional treatment methods to avoid relapses.

Traditional methods

There are many folk remedies to combat lice. They are preferred for use in cases of head lice infestation in children. It is believed that folk remedies are less harmful and cannot harm health.

To combat lice use:

• washing hair with kerosene;
• vinegar wrap;
• rinsing with tansy infusion or wormwood decoction;
• masks made from crushed cranberries;
• masks made from onion pulp.

Kerosene and vinegar are good because they not only kill insects, but also clean the hair roots and dissolve the substance that attaches nits to the hairs. After this treatment, it is easier to remove them from the hair.

The danger of these methods is that, firstly, you need to know the exact concentration and time of exposure, otherwise you can burn your scalp or get an allergic reaction. Secondly, kerosene and vinegar damage hair; it will take a long time to restore it after such treatment. Traditional methods require repeated use. The fight against lice can take a long time, and during this time new individuals will appear from the nits remaining on the hair.

Dust soap is effective against lice and nits. They wash their hair with it several times for several days in a row. It is necessary to rinse your hair well and comb out dead insects and eggs from your hair each time.

Development period and how many days do they hatch?

Since nits are lice eggs that are firmly attached to hair and clothing, their shell is covered with a protective layer with a cap on top. The shape of the cap has a systematic feature. The length of the nit reaches up to 2 mm. Pediculosis develops at temperatures from 25 to 37 degrees Celsius and lasts from 5 to 16 days.

For body louse, the development time increases when the temperature reaches 30–31 degrees with a duration of up to 7–10 days (if the underwear is not changed).

The complete development cycle of an individual from embryonic form to adulthood is 2–4 weeks. And during this period, the development of lice occurs in several stages:

1. an egg is laid;
2. the larva appears;
3. There is a rapid transformation of the larva into an adult parasite.

After a week (or a little more), the louse hatches from the larva. This ripening period usually depends on external conditions. The most favorable of them remains body temperature - 36.6 degrees (the difference in minor fluctuations is not significant).

The life cycle of parasites changes in winter or summer. Having escaped from the outer shell, the louse finds food for itself - human blood. And now a couple of days have passed since the female is ready to become fertilized again.

Causes of lice

Parasites have been known since ancient times; it is noteworthy that lice prefer carriers who wash their hair regularly - it is easier to suck blood from clean skin. The main reason for the appearance of parasites is contact transmission during a personal meeting, through underwear, clothing, and personal items.

Important! The human louse can only live on humans. It is a mistake to assume that parasites are transmitted from animals.

The initial cause of lice is unsanitary conditions. However, today insects also infect clean people, the reason being contact with the carrier. Once infected, the parasites colonize a new area, beginning the breeding season. Females lay eggs by attaching them to their hair. New individuals appear around the 10th day, and after 14-16 days they are ready to reproduce their own offspring.

Incubation period

The incubation period for the appearance of lice from nits is called by biologists the time of development of lice eggs. In medicine, the incubation period is considered the time between when the lice infection occurred and its obvious symptoms. An entomologist determines the incubation period of nits and lice from five to eight days, and if a person has contracted the disease, then the period increases to four weeks.

Due to lice and nits settling on the head, a person immediately begins to itch, even if the number of parasites is small at first. At first, this process does not cause much discomfort. And another three to four weeks pass before the patient begins to sound the alarm. Especially if the signs of uninvited guests settling on your head are already difficult to visually hide.

If we consider that nits are still the initial stage of the development of pediculosis, and lice begin to develop within 2-4 weeks to adulthood, then it becomes clear why in many people the disease often takes on an advanced nature.

It is important to remember that it takes about a week for an insect to develop from a larva to an adult male or female. And the ripening period depends on external factors, such as temperature. Comfortable body temperature for mass development of parasites is 36.6 degrees. And even if you go out in the cold without a hat, and walk in the heat in the summer, the life cycle of lice and nits will slow down, but will not stop.

As soon as the larva emerges from the cocoon, it begins to feed intensively, and it is enough for it to gain strength for another two days so that the female is ready to reproduce. At the most comfortable external temperature (about 30 degrees), up to 150 parasites can be found on the head in a couple of days. And if the disease lasts for months, then their number increases tens of times.

Head louse

Head lice and body lice are very similar in appearance. They often interbreed with each other and produce offspring, changing their “place of residence.” The body louse and head louse are considered sibling species.

The head louse lives on the scalp, most often the back of the head, temple, beard and mustache in men. Thanks to the special structure of the legs, the insect is firmly attached to tufts of hair that have a circular cross-section.

The insect has an elongated shape, 2–3 mm in length, the female’s body length is 4 mm. The body of the parasite is transparent or has a grayish-yellow color. There is sharp pigmentation on the sides.

Lice only crawl. From person to person they crawl through towels, bed linen, combs, etc. They can be picked up in a train car, on the beach, in a store and in a swimming pool.

The louse lays eggs 4 - 5 times a day. Over a lifetime, the number of eggs laid reaches 120 - 140. Egg maturation lasts 7 - 10 days. Most often, eggs are laid in the area behind the ear and the lower part of the back of the head.

Head lice feed 1-2 times a day. After absorbing blood, the insect's abdomen turns purple. The volume of blood sucked by the female at one time is about 0.7 ml. Males suck three times less blood. Without food, the head louse dies within two days.

The lifespan of insects ranges from 28 to 38 days.

Rice. 17. The photo shows a head louse (adult) and a nit.

Rice. 18. After absorbing blood, the insect's abdomen turns purple.

What do they eat?

Nits, even though they are lice eggs from which parasites then hatch, also need constant nutrition.
While the nits are in the shell, they have enough nutrients and microelements for the development of larvae. But after they leave the cocoons, they immediately start eating - they make small wounds in the scalp and begin to suck out blood drop by drop. These sores are often confused with hives or thought to be prickly heat or the result of an allergic reaction. Until a diagnosis is made, do not forget about possible infection through wounds. And even if you don’t want to think about lice and nits, no one is safe from them, especially children.

How long do lice live?

How long lice live depends on environmental conditions and factors independent of the insects, such as how quickly after they appear you begin to destroy them. If everything is obvious with the second indicator, then we can talk about the first in a little more detail. The most comfortable conditions for lice are an air temperature of +25–30 degrees.

• The entire life of a louse, from hatching from the egg to death due to natural causes, takes about 25–30 days.

In such circumstances, the louse reproduces very actively and manages to leave a sufficient number of offspring so that the number of parasites on their host only increases.

How to detect?

It is difficult not to notice the problem when the hair on the head becomes too sloppy and combing until it bleeds becomes a regular occurrence.

To lay eggs, lice climb along the hairs to a height of up to three centimeters from the base. It is at this distance that it is worth calculating the enemy.

In rare cases, nits can attach themselves directly to the scalp. But this is more related to hair loss as a result of mechanical action - combing, for example.

In rare cases, lice lay eggs in the place on the hair where there is already a clutch. Therefore, the distribution area of ​​nits is increasing by leaps and bounds. If several clutches of eggs are found on one hair, this is an alarming signal, and an incredible number of lice have developed. It is necessary to take urgent measures to destroy them.

Initially, you should look for a clutch of parasites from the back of the head. It is from here that light-colored eggs with dry shells begin their “march” across the skin. The light-colored larvae begin to hatch into dark brown lice. The latter are difficult to detect on dark hair. In this case, you need to comb your hair strand by strand with a comb.

And itchy skin is the first signal of danger. At first, it will seem that the itching is mild and occurs occasionally. But this is a misconception. Developing exponentially, lice and nits release more and more sticky substances, causing irritation over the entire surface of the skin, and the itching becomes more and more unbearable.

In the latter case, all doubts about the development of pediculosis disappear. It remains to confirm the diagnosis at the clinic. It is worth considering that adult parasites move very quickly. But nits are immediately noticeable and vulnerable, although at first they may be mistaken for increased dandruff.

Lice are the causative agent of pediculosis

There are several varieties of human lice. They differ in their habitat. Headworms live only on the scalp and in the human hair growing on the head. This is how they differ from pubic and wardrobe hair.

A louse is an insect up to 4 mm in size. Females are larger than males. They have a chitinous, translucent, elongated body, gray-brown, which darkens when saturated with blood. The insect has three pairs of legs. Their shape is such that they can easily move along hairs with a circular cross-section.

Parasites have a well-developed oral apparatus, with which they pierce the skin and suck out blood. When they bite, they inject saliva, which prevents the blood from clotting and causes severe itching. The louse feeds every 3 to 4 hours.

Lice infestation is called pediculosis. Signs of lice:

• severe itching;
• if there are a lot of bites, they constantly itch, scratches appear on the scalp that do not heal well;
• wounds become infected, skin lesions can be significant;
• with severe infection and a large number of parasites, many traces of their vital activity remain on the hair and skin, the hair becomes sticky, tangled, and tangles form;
• a person with lice becomes irritable and nervous due to constant itching.

Lice can be detected visually. They are clearly visible on light hair. Dark ones require more attention. Nits can be seen at the roots of the hair - these are lice eggs.

How to distinguish from dandruff?

If you have never had lice and nits, and have no visual idea of ​​these parasites, then at the beginning of the disease they can easily be confused with dandruff. There are several characteristic differences that make it possible to determine the appearance of white spots at the base of the hair.

1. Dandruff flakes vary in size and have irregular shapes. And the nits are round and smooth. The eggs are almost the same size.
2. Dandruff scatters throughout the hair and is easily removed by combing. Therefore, removing it will not be difficult. It is not so easy to remove nits because of their adhesive shell, which adheres tightly to the hair at a certain height from the skin. To remove a nit, you need to try to catch it with your nails and pull it off the hair. And if you sharply press on the nit, you will hear a distinct click.
3. Dandruff is easily found on the shoulders of clothes or on the collar of a shirt. It can be easily brushed off. And nits can only be removed with hair.
4. Severe itching is the main symptom of the development of head lice. With dandruff, the head can also be very itchy, but the process is characterized by minor skin irritation.
5. Dandruff is localized mainly on the top of the head. And nits love the temporal and frontal areas and also the back of the head.

It is worth considering that dandruff is associated with the characteristics of the body. It becomes a personal problem of a person and is associated with discomfort from an aesthetic point of view. But pediculosis cannot remain a personal problem due to the transfer of the disease to other people through close contact (family, team). Parasites are constantly in search of food and new victims.

It is important to immediately consult a dermatologist if your hair condition suddenly worsens.

Preventive measures

Pediculosis must be avoided by preventive measures, and not hope that “maybe it will go away.”

The following measures significantly reduce the risk of infection and development of the disease;

Maintaining personal hygiene:

• Mandatory washing of the entire body at least once a week.
• Do not keep wearing the same clothes and wash them often. For greater effect, it is advisable to iron it with an iron.
• Don't neglect cutting and combing your hair.
• Use only personal hygiene items.
• Avoid head-to-head contact with strangers or unfamiliar people, as well as promiscuous casual sexual contact.
• Constant change and washing of bed linen: Change linen at least once every 2-4 weeks. Wash it every time you change clothes.

Let's celebrate! Pediculosis is an insidious disease that may not show itself for a long time. At the first signs, you should immediately contact a specialist.

How to get rid of it?

When unpleasant symptoms appear, the first desire is to get rid of the parasites as quickly as possible.
Nits and lice have to be literally caught and removed from each hair. For this purpose, the scalp is examined daily. You need to carefully:

1. see the affected areas, tufts of hair;
2. examine the crown and along the hairline;
3. study the roots.

The search for the enemy can be carried out both on a dry and wet head.

In this case, a comb with fine teeth has long been an auxiliary tool. But it will not be possible to completely comb out the parasites. You will have to turn to medical remedies.

Algorithm for searching for lice and nits on wet hair:

1. You should wash your hair with shampoo and apply a small amount of conditioner to your hair, try combing your head with a large-toothed comb;
2. after several manipulations, you need to replace the comb, take a comb with more frequent teeth so that in the process it lightly touches the scalp and reaches the roots;
3. when combing, there is no need to rush; you need to repeat the procedure from top to bottom, running the comb through your hair strand by strand (at this stage, the nits will remain on the comb);
4. lice must be removed by sharply pressing them with your nails until they click;
5. After combing, you need to rinse the conditioner from your hair.

Algorithm for searching for lice and nits on dry hair:

1. you should try to untangle your hair the first time you comb it with a regular comb;
2. then, using a fine-toothed comb, comb your hair, dividing it into small sections, from roots to ends, running the comb in one place three to four times;
3. Every time you need to check the comb to see if there are any parasites left on it;
4. At the end of the procedure, you need to properly comb all your hair from the base to the ends.

The intensity of itching at different times of the day manifests itself differently. Scratching at these moments will remove a large number of parasites. You can finally get rid of lice only by treating the scalp with chemicals.

After using the comb, it must be wiped with a napkin and a cotton pad, on which traces of lice and nits will remain.

Without a doubt, suspicion of pediculosis and the appearance of nits and lice is an extremely unpleasant phenomenon. But there is no reason to panic or worry. To get rid of blood-sucking parasites, anti-pediculosis agents have long been used, which simultaneously destroy both nits and adult individuals. These products can be purchased at pharmacies and used according to the instructions for them.

And in order not to become infected with pediculosis, it is necessary to follow preventive measures:

• shower regularly;
• change underwear and bed linen weekly (or when soiled);
• after washing, iron underwear and bed linen with a hot iron;
• do not use other people’s clothes, linen, including bedding, or other people’s combs;
• carry out daily monitoring of the child’s scalp, hair condition, and monitor the cleanliness of the linen and clothing of children and adolescents.

But everyone has the risk of becoming infected with lice and does not depend on the person’s cleanliness. That's why it's so important to understand how things happen, how you can get lice, and what they look like.

The main measure for the prevention of pediculosis remains compliance with the rules of personal hygiene. And attentive attention to your lifestyle - where, with whom and how a person communicates, how he treats his own health, whether he leaves the solution to the problem of lice for later.

Prevention

The use of special medications does not protect against re-infection with parasites. Therefore, it is important to follow preventive control measures, which include the following recommendations:

1. It is necessary to regularly examine the hair and skin of a person who has recently suffered from the disease.
2. It is important to observe the rules of personal hygiene, regularly wash clothes and bed linen, and iron them.
3. You should wash your hair at least once every seven days.
4. You need to use only your own things and not share them with another person. You cannot wear someone else’s headdress or use accessories from people you don’t know well.
5. It is necessary to avoid casual sex and close contacts with strangers.
6. It is necessary to periodically clean outer clothing and upholstered furniture, and ventilate the rooms.
7. It is necessary to limit communication with people who live in unsanitary conditions.
8. It is recommended to take a bath with essential oils. Their smells drive away lice.

Schools and kindergartens conduct regular inspections to detect lice in children's hair.
But none of the preventive measures provides one hundred percent protection against the disease, because you can become infected with it at any time and anywhere. Video:

What other types are there?

In total, there are about 500 species of these blood-sucking insects. They have a similar structure and mainly differ in size. All parasites have three pairs of paws adapted to their environment. The duration of the life cycle depends on the species and averages 30-45 days.

Some representatives of rabbits and hares are susceptible to infection with hare louse, which is characterized by a hairy body. Elephants are affected by the elephant louse, which is large in size and lives in the skin folds of the animal. The parasites have an extended proboscis, thanks to which they adhere well to the skin and interior.

Seals and other pinnipeds become infected with a spiny species of bloodsucking insect.

Differential diagnosis

The spread of lice has similar symptoms to other diseases. Therefore, it is important to make a differential diagnosis in a timely manner in order to begin quality treatment:

1. Dermatitis
   . The condition develops against the background of the spread of an allergen and nervous tension. If, before the formation of inflammatory processes on the skin, a person has been in contact with the causative agent of lice, he begins to become very nervous. Therefore, red spots appear on the skin, even in the absence of lice.
2. Scabies
   . This is a disease with which pediculosis is often confused. Active itching forms on the skin, but it is caused by another parasite. This is a subcutaneous mite that penetrates under the epidermis. But abundant bite marks and wounds will not develop on the skin.
3. Psoriasis
   . This is an incurable disease characterized by the appearance of white spots and severe itching. It forms in waves. People believe they get lice from scratching their skin.

To accurately determine the diagnosis, consult a doctor. For example, a therapist or an infectious disease specialist.

Where are you most likely to get lice?

Parasites spread most quickly in places with high concentrations of people. The more people there are, the more contacts between them, the more favorable conditions for the spread of head lice. One person can infect dozens or even hundreds of others. High-risk places are objects in which a person is forced to stay for a long time and in which he cannot influence the sanitary condition:

• hospitals;
• prisons;
• barracks;
• hotels;
• camps;
• educational institutions.

Also risk areas are:

• public transport;
• sports facilities;
• swimming pools;
• hairdressing salons.

However, you can catch lice in any public institution and even on the street.

Ways of infection with pediculosis

The most basic way you can catch parasites is through direct contact with infected people. The head louse moves from head to head when touched or if you simply pass or stand very close to an infested person. Insects move through hair very quickly. Pubic lice pass from one person to another during sexual intercourse or while sleeping in the same bed in close proximity.

The second way is when using the personal belongings of an infected person. Lice can be found in a variety of objects:

• hats;
• clothing and underwear;
• combs, hairpins, elastic bands and other hair accessories;
• towels;
• bed sheets;
• pillows and blankets.

You can easily catch lice on public transport. On the seats of trains, buses, and planes, especially on soft textile headrests, including those with individual napkins, insects can go unnoticed and easily move from there onto their heads.

Is it possible to get lice without close contact?

Lice cannot fly or jump far, as, for example, fleas do. But they move quite well on different surfaces. The insect can crawl a distance of 30 - 50 cm. This means that there is no need for close contact to pick up lice. That is, a person with lice could sit on a bench in the park, put his hat on it, from which the louse had crawled onto the bench, and leave from there. And another person, sitting down on this bench in half an hour or an hour, can become a new victim of the insect.

It is worth saying that the risk of lice infection exists only on the condition that the carrier becomes a female, which, if it comes into contact with a new person, will lay at least one egg. If you pick up a male or an immature larva, the disease will not develop.