Super Lice Treatment Manual Page 1
Table of Contents: 1. Introduction (page 4) 1. Why I Wrote This Book 2. Not the End of the Word: Pediculosis Facts 3. Quick-Start Guide: Get Rid of Lice Now! 1. Materials 2. Method 4. The Head Lice Lingo 2. Why You Should Avoid Other Methods (page 8) 1. Pesticides/Poisons/Insecticides 1. Permethrin 2. Pyrethrin 3. Malathion 4. Lindane 5. Flea/Tick Medication, Prescriptions, and Other Pesticides 2. Kerosene, Alcohol, Gasoline 3. Other Common Methods 1. Head Shaving 2. Mayonnaise 3. Tea Tree Oil 4. Vinegar 5. Vaseline 6. Not Washing Your Hair 3. The Method (page 13) 1. Materials Necessary 1. Protective Gear 2. Treatment Materials 2. Detection 1. The Conditioner and Comb Method 2. The Manual Detection Method 3. How to Do It Page 2
4. History of Head Lice (page 17) 1. Ancient Head Lice 2. Head Lice in Europe 3. Head Lice in Africa 4. Head Lice in Asia 5. Head Lice in the Americas 5. Housecare and Prevention (page 20) 1. Weekly Cleaning Routine 2. Disposal of Infested Items 3. Preservation of Infested Items 4. Inspection Routine 5. School Programs 1. Starting a School Program 2. The No-Nit Policy Myth 6. Product Information and Suggestions (page 23) 1. Combs 2. Conditioners 7. Closing Statement (page 25) Page 3
Want the Quick Start Guide to jump in and start getting rid of your super lice? Skip ahead to Page 6! Introduction Why I Wrote This Book In 2004, our whole family was afflicted with a head lice infestation. My children's school principal told me to buy pesticide shampoo and treat the children--which I immediately did. To my shock and dismay however, THE PESTICIDAL SHAMPOO DID NOT GET RID OF THE LICE! In a panic, I spoke to a pediatrician friend. He nodded and sighed, The lice are resistant to pesticides now. Frequently the shampoos don't work. I felt my eyes well up with tears. I had exposed my family to poisons and the poison didn't even work? I had cleaned the house and combed the children's hair for hours and hours uselessly? I was exhausted, frustrated, scared, and ashamed. I had to find a solution! I now know that my family had super lice before the term super lice had even been coined! Super lice pesticide-resistant lice that cannot be killed with insecticidal shampoos like Nix and Rid have since reached epidemic proportions. I searched high and low for different cures, techniques, and methods for lice removal, but the information was scattered. One place says that the best solution is to use chemical products to destroy the lice, but another would turn around and say that using chemicals could be very harmful to children as well as contributing to the world-wide lice problem by breeding more super lice that couldn't be killed by chemicals. Some sources said that the sure-fire way to get rid of lice is to shave your head! Even if it's the fastest and easiest way to get rid of head lice, that could be very damaging to a child psychologically. One of the products I've seen are specialized, plastic combs with medication inside of the comb, but the problem with those combs is that they easily Page 4
wear out and contain medication that could potentially be harmful to a child. Another product is an electronic lice comb that sorts out nits and lice with a beep every time it catches one, but the reviews for that comb are mediocre. There's so many different cures and methods that you can't be sure which ones will help and which ones will harm! Then, I found an article about a study in the United Kingdom where pesticide-resistant lice are a huge problem. The health experts there had come up with a technique that they proved could reliably eliminate head lice infestations. Amazingly, this technique is: 100% effective against super lice. Easy. Inexpensive. Pesticide-free. And most importantly, SAFE! If I hadn't seen the medical study to prove it, I would never have believed that this technique would be effective: you just saturate the head with regular white hair conditioner and use a fine toothed comb to thoroughly comb through the hair removing lice, nymphs, and nits from the hair. Do this faithfully every three days for four weeks and you can be certain that every single last louse and nit will be gone. If your child has head lice and you're ready to put in a little elbow grease, read on and I'll show you the way to get rid of super lice! Not the End of the World: Pediculosis Facts Infestations are a big inconvenience, yet they are not harmful to your health Head lice cannot spread disease Head lice cannot live long on pets or furniture they need human hosts to survive more than three days Regular screenings can prevent a large-scale infestation from occurring Head lice spread from direct contact, so you can treat someone with head lice without spreading it And most importantly, it's possible to get rid of head lice safely Page 5
Quick-Start Guide: Get Rid of Super Lice Now! So, you or your child has super lice, and you want to know how to get rid of it right now; this is the section for that. First, follow the steps in this section and then read the rest of the book afterwards to better equip yourself for what is ahead. First you need: A regular comb A nit-comb or fine-tooth comb (see page 23 for recommendations) A big bottle of inexpensive white hair conditioner Here's what to do: 1. Comb out tangles in the hair with a regular comb 2. Soak all hair completely with conditioner until saturated root to tip 3. Thoroughly comb through all sections of hair (top, bottom, and both sides) with nit-comb (if you have time, comb through twice to be safe) 4. Between each swipe, rince the lice, conditioner and debris off the nitcomb into the sink 5. Rinse the head off in the shower and then shampoo as usual to remove conditioner Those are the simple steps of the conditioner and comb method that eliminates super lice. Repeat this process on every household member that is infested (this is critical). Once you have finished this first combing, all of the head lice, nymphs, and most of the nits should be gone. This conditioner and comb routine must be repeated every third day for four weeks before you can be certain that the super lice infestation has been eliminated. YOU MUST READ AND FOLLOW THE REST OF THE INSTRUCTIONS ON PAGE 13! After completing the first conditioner and comb process, you and the child will be much more comfortable, and you will be able to read through the rest of this book to complete the treatment and learn this powerful technique to eliminate and prevent super lice infestation. Page 6
The Head Lice Lingo Here are the definitions of terms I will use in this book: Super lice head lice that have developed resistance to pesticides. Nix, Rid and other pesticidal shampoos are completely ineffective against super lice. Louse/Lice - refers to single or multiple adult head lice respectively Nymph - a young louse Nit - the small, oval eggs that the louse attaches to hairs Fine-tooth comb or nit-comb - a commercial nit-comb made specifically for delousing Chemicals/Insecticides/Poisons - potentially harmful commercial products for delousing Pediculosis - clinical name for head lice infestations Pediculicide - a chemical made for killing lice Clades - the genetic families of lice; there are three: A, B, and C Dermatological - relating to the skin Page 7
Why You Should Avoid Other Methods Pesticides/Poisons/Insecticides If you are reading this Super Lice Treatment Manual, chances are that you have already used pesticidal shampoo at least once and it has not worked. This is because of the increasing prevalance of super lice or pesticide-resistant lice. According to a Harvard study, lice in the United States and other countries where pediculicides are used commonly are extremely resistant to chemical treatments. Most of the frustration parents encounter is trying an over-the-counter product containing permethrin or another chemical, and when it doesn't work, they will try a prescription medicine which usually contains a higher dosage of the same chemical. The study collected head lice from two parts of the United States and tested the effectiveness of permethrin on them; the study concluded that low doses had about the same effect as high doses of permethrin--not much. When they collected head lice from Borneo where permethrin treatment is not used very often, the lice would die off at low doses. Therefore, the conclusion can be easily drawn that where over-the-counter medicines have been readily available for the consumer, the lice are likely to be adapted to it. While many lice products containing pesticides are (sometimes) safe to use in the short term, they can cause chemical burns and poison your child if used more than once a week. Even if your lice infestation is not pesticide-resistant, chemical products kill lice but not their nits, so the nits will hatch and begin breeding through that whole week. You'll be back where you started! Yet another reason to not use any chemical products is that they are harmful to the environment. After you use an insecticide, you have to dispose of it somehow, and if you dispose of it down the drain it will collect in the water system and poison the drinking water and crops. Here are some details about chemicals found in traditional pesticidal delousing products: Permethrin Over-the-counter insecticides contain: permethrin, pyrethrin, and Malathion. Permethrin is a broad-spectrum neurotoxin which means that it kills indiscriminately. It is used as a Page 8
flea treatment for animals, and there are several cases of cats dying because they were given flea treatment for a dog or came in contact with a dog that was treated. The way it works is that it keeps the cell-membrane channels for sodium open, so the organism affected by it dies as a result of a chemical imbalance that leads to a total system failure. Since it's a broad spectrum neurotoxin, this effect works on both the host and the parasite, so the cells of the person being treated may die along with the lice. In humans, it is known to damage the eyes, skin, and lungs. Pyrethrin Pyrethrin, while still a neurotoxin, is known to be less harmful to people. However, it is also known to cause irritation to the eyes, skin, and lungs. It is extracted from the Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium which is grown as a commercial crop to provide the insecticide. If the dose is not high enough to kill the insect, it works as a repellent. One of the dangers of a repellent is that the lice will flee from the current host and try to attach to a new host. Malathion Malathion is used as an insecticide and is also less harmful to humans, but it breaks down into a compound called malaoxon. Malaoxon is sixty times more poisonous to humans than malathion, and if malaoxon is present in your house, it can be extremely poisonous and even deadly! One of the common impurities in malathion is isomalathion, and isomalathion inhibits carboxyesterase enzymes in mammals, so the potential lethality of the two can be extremely high. In the United States, this is one of the most common insecticides used. In both the United States and Canada, malathion was sprayed over large portions of major cities to combat mosquitoes and, subsequently, the West Nile Virus. On Long Island, this spraying routine caused a major die-out of the lobster population. Page 9
Lindane Lindane is an organochlorine insecticide used in the treatment of Pediculosis. It's a neurotoxin which prevents proper neurotransmitter function, and its carcinogenic properties are known to cause damage to humans in their liver, kidneys, and nervous system. It is banned in over 50 countries, and there are movements to have the use and production banned world-wide. In California, it has been banned since 2002, but elsewhere in the United States, Lindane shampoos continue to be produced and sold. Flea/Tick Medication, Prescriptions, and Other Insecticides DO NOT USE FLEA/TICK MEDICATION OR OTHER NON-LICE INSECTICIDES TO TRY TO TREAT A LICE INFESTATION. Some people will use insecticides meant for pets, crops, or stock. Others will try to use the medications prescribed to another person, but when you use any medication or chemical for something other than its intended purpose, you are asking to be poisoned. Prescriptions may be dosed by weight and height, so giving any medication meant for you to your child will be far too much. In turn, using an insecticide meant for a dog or cat on your child (even though they may be about the same weight), can also be equally poisonous. The results of trying to mix and match your own medication is very likely to result in severe sickness and possibly death. Alcohol, Kerosene, and Gasoline DO NOT USE ALCOHOL, KEROSENE, OR GASOLINE TO TRY TO TREAT A LICE INFESTATION. Some people suggest using kerosene, alcohol, or gasoline to kill head lice. All of these are very bad ideas and can seriously harm your child! Under no circumstances should you ever try these treatments! If a static charge should jump from your finger to the child's head, it will ignite. Aside from the likelihood of flammability, these treatments will dry out the skin of the scalp and cause it to crack. This will increase the chances of an infection developing. Also, if any alcohol or kerosene drips into the eyes of the child, he or she could be blinded permanently. Gasoline is also very poisonous, so prolonged contact on the skin can cause a chemical burn, prolonged fumigation can lead to brain damage, and if any is ingested, it can cause severe vomiting or poisoning to the point of death. Page 10
Other Common Methods There are plenty of folk-lore cures floating around which are either effective at too high of a cost, or they just plain don't work! Having head lice can be a frustrating, irritating condition, and people are willing to go to the extreme and try anything to get rid of them. These are some other "remedies" for head lice from the impractical to the absurd: Head Shaving For those looking for a new hair-do, shaving your head is an ancient remedy for head lice, and it actually works! In fact, my husband keeps his head closely shaved all the time and therefore never had to worry about head lice during our family's infestation. But, for the rest of us who like having hair, it's very impractical. The reason it works is that lice have to have hair to attach to. Head lice need, specifically, hair on your head to live on. If you shave off all of your hair, then the lice have nowhere to lay their nits and nothing to hold on to for feeding. You just try suggesting to your little girl that you want to shave her head. Needless to say, it won't go over well, and the psychological stress of the process could be very damaging. Also, taunts from school could also cause unneeded and prolonged distress. No need to put her in the position of being branded "the lice girl" for the rest of her school career. Another problem with shaving is the possibility for cuts, and with as much blood as the scalp has running through it, there's a real danger of major blood loss and infections for small children. Why subject your kids to the danger and embarassment of a shaved head when the comb and conditioner method is so effective and easy? Mayonnaise Another common method for treatment is using mayonnaise to do, effectively, the same thing that conditioner does or to use it as a "smothering" agent. Many people carry the misconception that mayonnaise actually kills the lice and their nits, but in fact, it would only be useful to facilitate the combing process. The primary danger of using mayonnaise is that it is an excellent breeding ground for bacteria that could cause a lifethreatening infection on a scratch-damaged scalp. Staphylococci are common on human skin and can develop into much more serious ailments. Once an infection has spread to the bloodstream, it is next to impossible to eliminate it even with powerful antibiotics, so the results can be fatal. Page 1 1
Tea Tree Oil Furthermore, I've read about using tea tree oil to combat lice, and the results of studies to check its effectiveness have been negative. You still have to follow all of the steps for the conditioner and comb method, but then you add the tea tree oil extract on the hair afterwards. The problem with tea tree oil is that it can cause severe allergic reactions in many people and is more toxic than malathion, so it would be best to not even try it. Vinegar The most commonly-recommended home treatment for head lice is to use vinegar. While it may kill lice, it can also dry out the skin like alcohol and cause cracks in the skin. With cracks, there's that ever-present danger of infection. Also, you and your child would probably rather a head be shaved than to run around with hair reeking of vinegar! Finally, vinegar does not smother and trap live lice to ease the combing process the way the conditioner does. Vaseline This is another one I would never like to experience. The method is to smear Vaseline in the hair and let it set overnight while wearing a shower cap. Then, you can either rinse it out or comb it out. For combing, it may work to some degree, but the leftovers from the Vaseline will stay in your hair for a very long time unlike conditioner. If you rinse it out, you may get a louse here or there, but if they haven't already burrowed their way out and secured themselves to a hair, at least their eggs are going to stay. Not Washing Your Hair This one falls under the absurd category. The idea is, since lice like a clean scalp, then you shouldn't wash your hair for a while and the lice will go away. It's true that lice prefer a clean scalp, but they would rather stick to your dirty scalp and breed en masse than die. Also, having a dirty scalp is a good way to breed bacteria on your head. Luckily, head-shaving, wives-tales tricks, and chemicals are not necessary and are, in fact, less effective than the method we are about to discuss. Page 12
The Super Lice Treatment Method The Materials Necessary There are a few items you will need before you start on this method. Luckily, these things are cheap, and you probably already have most of them on hand! If you don't have a nit-comb, lots of cheap conditioner, or a few of the other things, a quick trip to a supermarket or general store can usually fit the bill. If you are having problems deciding what to buy, then see the last section of this book to see some of my suggestions regarding good products. Protective Gear If you are treating someone else (it's harder but not impossible to treat yourself), the first things you will need are protective gear to prevent the lice from being spread to you. This equipment includes: Soap and water An unopened package of hair ties for long hair And an apron The soap and water are very necessary to ensure that you do not carry an infection to any open scratches on the child's head. Also, you need to wash your hands frequently throughout the process to ensure that you do not transfer a louse on your hand to your own hair. If you have long hair, you will need hair ties to prevent your hair from coming into contact with the child's hair and transferring the lice by that method. Use a new, unopened package so you can be sure that no lice have come in contact with the hair ties, and it's best to tie your hair up and back so that there is minimal chance that it will come in contact with the infestation. The apron will protect you from getting any conditioner, lice or water on your clothing. Treatment Materials To actually perform the procedure, you will need the following: A large amount of inexpensive, white conditioner A normal plastic or metal hair-comb A nit-comb with finely-spaced metal teeth (see recommendations on page 23) An old toothbrush for cleaning the nit-comb Plastic trash bags that can seal tightly Page 13
A large, white bowl Access to hot water and a sink A pot of boiling water to sterilize the combs after use A towel A wood, metal, or plastic chair With these common materials, you will be able to remove the super lice infestation without causing harm to your child. The reason your fine-toothed comb should be metal is that the teeth can bend and break if they are plastic. In addition, you can use a metal comb for future treatments on this child or family members who are infested as well. As for the wood, metal, or plastic chair, you need to have a chair that the child can sit in comfortably for up to an hour; it should be made of a material that is hard because lice can be transferred to cloth. Your child may prefer sitting in the bathtub during combing if you don't mind bending over the tub for up to an hour, this could be a great way to make sure the child stays put. To ensure that no bacteria is transferred from the combs to any scratches on the scalp, you need to pour boiling water over the combs and let the combs soak in hot water for half an hour before and after delousing. Be sure to let the combs cool before you actually use them. Now that you have your materials gathered, let's move on to the methods and techniques of natural lice detection and removal. Detection There are a few dermatological conditions which mimic the effects of lice (itchy scalp, red bumps around the neck and ears, a feeling of crawling on the skin). One of the most common mistakes people make is to mistake dandruff for nits. While dandruff is thin, flaked off skin that will shake out if you ruffle the hair, nits are small yellow dots attached firmly to the hair near the root. A louse will look like a small black or brown bug about the size of a sesame seed, and it may be running around on the scalp or attached to a hair near the root. Dandruff will have a clear or white color to it, and it will break apart easily, so be sure not to mistake dandruff for lice. Luckily, you can use a quicker version of this conditioner and comb treatment method for detection, and if you find lice present, it's easy to step right into treatment! Since the treatment is so gentle, any time there is cause for concern of a lice infestation, you can perform the conditioner and comb detection and segue immediately into adding more conditioner once a louse or nit is found. The manual inspection method is quicker yet less effective, so I would suggest starting with a quick poke through the hair and also using the conditioner and comb detection method to make sure. Before any inspection, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, put on an apron, and tie up your hair. Page 14
To check for pediculosis, seat the child and use both of these methods to determine if your child has head lice: The Conditioner and Comb Detection Method (Most Effective) 1. Fill the large, white bowl with hot water. 2. Take your normal hair comb and comb through to ensure that the child's hair is not tangled. 3. Then, apply conditioner liberally to the hair and use the fine-tooth comb to carefully comb through the hair from root to the end. 4. After every stroke, rinse the comb in the bowl of water and check to see if dark spots (head lice) are in the bowl. 5. Then check the bowl under a bright light (use a magnifying glass if you have one) to check for any dark spots. If lice or nits are present, then the hair is obviously infested. The Manual Detection Method (Semi-Effective) 1. Comb the child's hair with a normal comb to detangle it. 2. Then, with your gloves on, part the child's hair with your hands every few centimeters until you have checked the whole scalp. If you notice dark spots running around on the scalp and hair, or you see small ovals attached to the hair, then an infestation is present. If the child is confirmed to have an infestation use the following treatment method to remove the infestation. How to Do It: In this method, you will need to have all of your materials gathered and ready before you have the child sit down so you will be able to complete the treatment with minimal fuss. The initial treatment will take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to accomplish, but after the first treatment, the time required will be reduced greatly. The overall treatment process will last four weeks or more depending on reinfestations, and you should make sure the infested person does not braid their hair for that time as it makes it much more difficult to untangle and comb. Use this method to remove the infestation. With all of your materials gathered and the child confirmed to have lice, complete the following steps and check them off as you go: 1. Empty the large, white bowl into the sink and rinse the sink with hot water. 2. Fill the bowl again with hot water and set it where it is easily accessible. Page 15
3. Wash your hands with hot, soapy water. 4. If you have long hair, tie it up and back with the hair ties. 5. Wash your hands and put on the apron. 6. Hold the combs and toothbrush over the sink and wash in hot soapy water or sterilize by pouring boiling water over and soaking. 7. Rinse the combs and toothbrush completely with hot water. 8. Wrap the towel around the neck of the child to prevent conditioner from falling down on them or the floor. 9. Use the hair-comb to straighten and detangle the child's hair. 10.Apply conditioner to the child's hair and work it in until all hair is completely saturated. Make sure to not allow the conditioner to fall in the child's eyes. 11.Use the fine-tooth comb to comb all hair from the root to the tip in four directions (forwards, backwards, left, and right) 12.Inspect and rinse the comb after every swipe. Use the toothbrush to clean out any debris in the comb after each swipe. Combing should take 20-30 minutes to do, and continue combing until no nits or lice are visible after a complete combthrough. Use the bowl to check for this. 13.If the amount of conditioner gets low, apply some more and work it in. 14.Pour the bowl's contents down the drain and rinse the sink with hot water. 15.Sterilize the combs and toothbrush with boiling water, soak, and place in a secure location. 16.Remove the towel and the child's clothes and immediately wash them at high temperature. 1 7. Shampoo the child to remove the conditioner. This treatment should be repeated on a schedule of every three days for four weeks to ensure that no nits, nymphs, or lice still live. The reason you should wash your hands and disinfect the combs and toothbrush with boiling water is so that you will not introduce any bacteria to the bites or scratch marks. While head lice do not carry any diseases, open sores from scratching can lead to a serious infection. Also, you want to kill off any lice that may be clinging to the comb after you complete the procedure with the boiling water. You will want to straighten the child's hair first with the normal comb to make the finetooth combing less painful because it could pull his or her hair out if you jump right into it. When using the fine-tooth comb, you have to make sure you comb in all four directions to make sure you have removed all of the nits and lice on each side of the hair, and failure to do so will allow the lice to breed and re-infest the scalp. The reason why the treatment is repeated is because it will interrupt the life-cycle of the lice colony. Even if you kill all of the adult lice, you will probably miss a few of the nits, and they will eventually hatch and breeding if left undisturbed. If you continue this treatment every third day for four weeks, you will be able to remove new nymphs as Page 16
they hatch from the nits and therefore drive your super lice infestation into complete extinction. The way this treatment works is that the lice will be trapped in the conditioner and unable to run away from the comb. When you're using the fine-tooth comb, it scoops up all of the lice trapped in it, and the comb also scrapes the nits off of the hair so no more eggs can hatch. The History of Head Lice Head lice have been a present, persistent problem for people across cultures and throughout history. It was even annoying before history was recorded! In this section, we will look at the evolution of lice, us, and the methods used to treat Pediculosis. Ancient Head Lice Lice have been studied in the field of Archaeogenetics. It is believed that since modern humans have lice infestations, the pre-historic humans were also infested. Since lice are spread through direct hair-to-hair contact, scientists can study the genes of lice to follow their evolutionary and physical path and therefore follow humanoid migration across the continents. Much like modern primates, the way prehistoric humans dealt with their infestations was to either ignore it or to pick out and kill the lice one by one as a bonding ritual. The way they track the human migrations is by looking at how the lice evolved along with the humanoids. At one point, the archaic species of lice split into specialized, human-only lice which split further into specific parts of the human body that they survive on. When modern humans began to overpopulate an area and deplete its resources, groups began to split off and search for greener pastures taking various forms of lice with them. As we settled the many regions of the world, each branch of lice began to develop a different genetic blueprint from the other families of lice because their hosts were separated from each other. This caused the gene pool for lice (and humans) to become more specific. As humanity began to overpopulate those new areas, people spread to even more areas. Eventually, people from different ethnic groups began to bump into each other and interact, so their parasite friends began hopping to different host heads. An archaeogeneticist can look at the different families of humanity and lice to see where groups travelled and who they interacted with. It's all based on the genetic combinations of the lice in different parts of the world. Head Lice in Europe Page 17
In the European Middle Ages, lice were present on almost everyone! They dealt with it in much the same manner as the prehistoric humans. They would pick out the lice and the nits (a very time consuming process) one by one and crush them--hence the term, nit-picking. However, they laid the groundwork for better tools than our less-evolved cousins: combs and chemicals. With their knowledge of metalworking, early cultures were able to design rudimentary, specialized combs to rake out lice, and they also experimented with chemicals to kill the lice, but the results were questionable as to the effectiveness and safety of the treatments. Some people believed that lice were spontaneously generated from sweat because they associated the itch of being sticky with sweat and the itch lice produce. That is, they assumed if they stopped sweating that the lice would go away, but sadly that isn't true. Other beliefs include punishment from a higher power, a curse, or many other notions. Up until the 1960's, the Augustinian order treated lice infestations with arsenic treatments at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. This treatment, as well as the use of mercury, is rooted far back in European history, and people tried everything to the point of poisoning and killing themselves to get rid of these little guys. Head Lice in Africa Nit-combs have been found with Egyptian mummies that are dated to being as much as 5000 years old! This information suggests that while almost every culture was using poisons to try to kill lice, a few were also concurrently developing other methods to combat Pediculosis. The problem with the combs they developed is that they couldn't make the teeth as durable and fine as we can with modern manufacturing technology. The lice found on mummies in various parts of the world have been used to trace human migration from Africa 100,000 years ago. So this also suggests that head lice had to have started in this region as well since only human heads can host them. Surely, with nothing to closely inspect them with, early humans could not distinguish between the different types of lice. A head louse was the same as a body louse. Since they would often get sick after having body lice, they assumed that lice make you sick, so they would try to destroy the infestation in any manner possible because getting a disease in those times is a sure way to die. Head Lice in Asia The Chinese also used mercury and arsenic to try to combat lice. Like their European counterparts, the people of India believed that head lice came from sweat. Around 100 A.D., the Chinese discovered that if they distill the powder from a dry chrysanthemum, they get an insecticide. That insecticide turns out to be Pyrethrin. Also at that time, the Chinese used tops of Sweet Wormwood on the scalp to get rid of lice, and they use the Page 18
method to this very day for traditional Chinese medicine. In the Arabic world, they used horned poppy mixed with borax to fight infestations. More recently, the Russians used veratrum viride which contains cyclopamine, jervine, and cycloposine. Probably not a good idea. However, the Turks discovered using rosemary oil as a shampoo and discovered that it has properties that repel insects. Overall, people around the world were very much alike in that they were willing to put just about anything on their hair to try to defeat an infestation. Some compounds used world-wide would actually be acidic and burn the lice as well as the skin! But, to some people, it was a better solution to have a burned, lice-free scalp than to suffer having matted hair full of eggs and lice. Head Lice in the Americas There are three Clades of lice: A, B, and C. The most common Calde is A, and those lice are found throughout the world. clade B is thought to have originated in the Americas as exemplified by Peruvian mummies. clade C is extremely rare. When researchers picked the mummified lice out of the braided hair of the Peruvian mummies, they found 400 to 500 lice a head, and genetic testing revealed that all of the lice were of clade B. Since the mummies were approximately 1000 years old, it can safely be assumed that no Clade A lice were introduced to that part of the Americas until after European settlers arrived carrying Clade A. Body lice also fall into the Clade B category, and body lice can transmit typhus, so it has been suggested that typhus was one of the diseases brought back from the Americas by the form of body lice. With modern science and engineering, we are now able to make fine-toothed combs that will rake through hairs to remove nits and lice with ease. Also, we have viscous, non-lethal products (such as conditioner) which we can use to assist us in removing an infestation without causing harm to the patient. In addition, we also have the ability to, one day, find a compound which is not harmful to people but guaranteed to eliminate lice, but so far there are no chemical cures for head lice that are safe. Prevention and Housecare Page 19
Just getting the lice off of the child's head is not enough. There may be more than one person infested, and if that is true, then the lice will just spread back to the person you cleaned. If there's lice in the furniture or clothes, they're just waiting to find a head to climb on to, so that's another way to be re-infested. If you take the following precautions, you will safe. Simple House Cleaning Routine During Super Lice Treatment To prevent the recurrence of an infestation, you should clean your house thoroughly for the next month. This includes: Performing the procedure on all people in your home at least twice to ensure that there is not an infestation hiding on any members of the household Vacuuming all carpets in the house every three days Vacuuming and cleaning all furniture that has cloth on it every week Washing all dirty clothes and hats in the house every three days; rewashing clean clothes is unnecessary If you have only one set of bedclothes, washing all bedclothes including: pillows, pillowcases, sheets, blankets, and comforters every three days. If you have more, then place all spare bedclothes in a sealed plastic bag and store them for a month. Sterilize all used head-related personal items (hair ties, combs, brushes, etc) with boiling water daily, and store unused items in a sealed plastic bag for a month. Sterilize all used head-related personal items (hair ties, combs, brushes, etc) with boiling water daily, and store unused items in a sealed plastic bag for a month. Wash any fabric toys like stuffed animals every three days or seal it in a bag for a month. Disposal of Infested Items After vacuuming, make sure to place the vacuum bag inside of a tightly sealed plastic Page 20
bag and place it in the trashcan outside. Doing so will prevent further breakouts of lice. Anything else you plan to get rid of should also be placed in a tightly sealed plastic bag and put in the trash can. The reason for this is that if any lice are present on an item in the house, there is the possibility of a re-infestation occurring, so for the treatment to work under optimal conditions, every caution should be observed. Preservation of Infested Items If there are some things you cannot dispose of or clean, you use a large plastic bag to collect them. Once everything is collected, seal the bag and put it in a location where curious children will not get into it. After two weeks, all lice and nits will be dead. Inspection Routine After the four weeks of treatment and cleaning, you should screen your child for lice once a month. Use the conditioner and comb detection method for screening and watch carefully for any lice. The reason you continue screening after treatment is to ensure that the infestation did not continue and that no new infestations have occurred. If you see any lice present on the head, then you should repeat the treatment starting from day one. One way to reduce the impact on you and the child is to schedule a special time each month that you do enjoyable things while spending time with each other, and then you casually sneak in the lice screening somewhere in the middle. Eventually, the child will not resist and it will just be a part of what you do on that day every month. School Programs If one is not available, you can contact your child's school to see if they will start a screening program to check all of the children. School programs are useful because all of the children your child is likely to interact with on a daily basis will be checked, so breakouts will be much less common. Also, if the school is willing to do cleanings there, it will better protect your child from getting lice because some parents won't treat their children even if they know there is an infestation. If there isn't a school program, you can always try to start one! Page 21
Starting a School Program If your child's school does not currently have a lice-detection program, then you can create a program by promoting awareness in the community. The first step is to approach the school officials to determine if any lice policies are currently "on the books." In most schools, there is at least a policy that if a teacher notices that a student is reacting to the symptoms of head lice (by scratching constantly), then the student is to be sent to the nurse. Many schools for younger children also have a regular screening program that all students must attend. In those screenings, the school will use the manual method for checking for lice and nits, and if any are detected, they will send the child home with a note to their parents. In the case that the school has no lice policies or the policies are ineffective, then you may try approaching the school officials to create a better program. In many cases, the school will be unresponsive to one parent, but it's worth a shot because if the school can put it into gear by itself, then it's the quickest method. If the school does not respond quickly to your suggestions, then you will need to organize the community. One of the most effective ways to organize the community is to talk to the parents of the other children one-on-one. If there has been a lice problem in the past, you can use that information to convince the community that action is necessary. Since most parents would prefer if there was a school program in place instead of having to screen and delouse their children constantly, you should find plenty of support. A tactic you can use to convince the school board that better lice policies need to be instated is to bring all of the support you have found in the community to a school board meeting or whoever is responsible for setting such policies in motion. If enough parents are unhappy with the policy, then the school board will be forced to change it. Here are the tasks a lice program should accomplish: Educate the parents and children on head lice Screen regularly for lice on all children with care taken towards privacy Be equipped with the information and materials necessary to safely treat a child for head lice Educate the parents on how to properly check for and remove lice without chemical products The No-Nit Policy Myth However, many school programs fall prey to the no-nit policy which will send a child home even if a single nit is found on them, and the child will not be able to return to school until after he or she is screened and no nits are present. This can be very Page 22
distressing for your child and set them back in their studies. They may not listen, but you can inform the school that inactive nits and nit casings can be present on a child's hair for up to six months. When a nymph leaves the egg, a shell is left behind on the hair. While all the lice and potential lice are dead, a few inactive eggs or shells may be left over, so the no-nit myth is that seeing a nit equals an infestation. Product Information and Suggestions Combs The three most important things about a nit-comb are the length, the spacing, and the material. You want a nit-comb that can be drawn through the hair completely, so it needs to be long enough to touch the scalp without compressing the hair--this is especially important for long hair! In addition to being long, the gaps between the teeth of the comb need to be just narrow enough to get a couple hairs through so that the nits can be scraped off. If the gaps are too wide, you will spend even more time than necessary combing through the same sections to get the head lice and eggs out. The final most important factor to consider when buying a comb is the material. If you buy a plastic comb, you're going to regret it when a tooth breaks loose. Using this method isn't easy on combs, so you might as well be safe and get the metal comb so you can reuse it (after sterilization, of course) on multiple people for multiple infestations. You'll buy it once and be done! Daily shampooing will not prevent lice. Head lice actually prefer clean heads over dirty ones because a clean head is much easier to feed from. Sadly, there is no practical, fool-proof way to prevent a head lice infestation. The best thing to do is catch it early and be able to eliminate the nits and lice before it becomes a big problem. One common mistake is to get an electronic nit-comb. The way electronic nit-combs work is that they charge the prongs of the comb with electricity, and whenever anything passes through that can carry a charge (theoretically, lice and nits), it "zaps" it. The main problem with these combs is that you will spend a lot of time going through "false alarms." A false alarm is when something gets caught in the prongs that isn't lice or nits and sets it off, and after that, you have to pull out the comb, check to see what it is, clean it out, and then you can start another swipe. With a manual comb, it can collect several nits and lice in a single swipe, so it's best to stick with what works. Now, you're probably reading this book because you have an infestation that you need to take care of right now, so waiting for a comb to arrive in the mail just isn't an option. Instead of ordering one, take a look at these combs and try to find them or something Page 23
very close to it in a local store. Later, you can order one of these excellent combs to keep on hand for later use. These are my recommendations for nit-combs, but look around and see if you can find better combs at a better price: The Nit Free Terminator Comb: $12.00 USD http://www.pestproducts.com/nitcomb.htm This is exactly what you need in a nit-comb! The gaps are narrow, the teeth are long, it's metal, and the teeth even have a screw cut for better nit-removal. At a modest price of twelve dollars, this is an excellent buy. The LiceMeister Lice Comb: $9.95 USD http://www.headlice.org/catalog/index.htm This one is not nearly as nice as the Nit Free Terminator, but it's a little cheaper and will get the job done. It has all the important factors: metal, long teeth, small gaps. The plus about this one is that you actually may find it on a shelf near you, so be on the lookout for it! Conditioners The thing to keep in mind about the conditioner you use is that it should be cheap because you're going to be using a lot of it! Any cheap conditioner will work as well as an expensive one, but if your child has a co-morbid problem of oily hair or dandruff, you can kill two birds with one stone with this step! Just purchase a conditioner meant for the problem you need to solve, and you will get enough worked in over the treatment period to get two (or more) problems knocked out. If there aren't any other problems, just pick a cheap one off the shelf! Page 24
Closing Statement I hope you have found this book useful and that the information I have given you will stomp out your lice infestations. The most important thing I want to stress is that the Super Lice Treatment Method is the time-tested method that is proven to work without harming your child. There are so many products out there that can potentially cause severe harm to children, but the companies don't seem to care as long as they make their money off of it! After my family suffered from Pediculosis and I spent so much time trying to find a solution that actually worked, it became my mission to write this book so that other parents didn't have to go through the hoops that I did to find a method that actually works. So, in conclusion, I hope you enjoyed reading this book, and I wish you a happy, licefree day! Page 25