A word about LICE

A Note from your classroom about ……. LICE!

 

A child in our Nursery has been exposed to lice.  The classroom has been cleaned and disinfected, but you should check your child for lice, in case there was any direct head to head contact.

 

Itchy, scratchy, creepy, crawly. It’s unsettling to have these creatures take up residence in your

family, but it’s important to remember a few facts about lice: Lice can’t jump or fly from head to

head; You can’t catch lice from your pet; Lice don’t spread disease; Lice like clean hair just as

much as dirty hair; 6 – 12 million people get head lice every year.

Lice are tiny insects that live in human hair. They are about the size of a sesame seed and have

light and dark areas on their bodies that help them blend into hair. Their eggs, called nits, are even

smaller and attach themselves to hair strands with very strong glue. About 12 days after the nits

hatch, they can lay up to 10 eggs a day till they die at about 28 days.

 

Lice are most frequently spread from direct head to head contact and sometimes through shared combs or hats. Most often, “outbreaks” of lice occur after close head to head contact such as during sleepovers. Lice generally won’t live more than 24 hours off a human head and usually

cannot lay eggs if they are off the head.

 

INSPECT FOR LICE: To check for lice, use a magnifying glass in bright light or sunlight. Inspect

the hair in layers especially above the ears and the back of the neck where lice like to live. Look for

lice on the scalp and the “sesame seed” nits attached to hair. Sometimes hairspray, dandruff or dirt

look like lice or nits, but they can be flicked out of the hair easily. Nits are firmly attached and feel

like tiny grains of sand stuck to the hair. Nits that are more than ¼ inch from the scalp are generally

empty eggs or dead.

 

TREATING LICE: Pesticides to get rid of lice have serious side effects. Some have not been tested

for safety on children. People with cuts or sores on their scalp should not use pesticides. Pregnant

or nursing mothers, children under two and people with chronic health conditions should NOT use

pesticides to remove lice. Sometimes pesticides don’t work as lice are immune to them.

An immobilizing gel or inexpensive hair conditioner which keeps the lice from moving about on the

head combined with daily combing using a metal, fine toothed comb is the safest and most

effective way to remove lice. Combing and nitpicking daily for three weeks will prevent nits from

hatching and re-infesting the head with lice. Good effects have been shown from drying the hair

with a hair dryer at a comfortable temperature for 30 minutes which kills up to 88% of lice and nits.

Researchers feel the dry air is what kills the lice more than the heat. DO NOT use hairdryers with

head lice shampoos as the shampoos are flammable.

 

LICE PREVENTION: To prevent lice infestations, Avoid head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact. Do not

share clothing such as hats, scarves, coats, sports uniforms, hair ribbons, or barrettes. Girls may

want to put their hair back in ponytails or braids. Using pesticides cannot prevent future lice

outbreaks. Parents should periodically check their children’s scalp for lice and nits and especially

with excessive head scratching.

 

For more information:

http://www.cdc.gov/lice/head/schools.html http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice/flow.html

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;110/3/638#SEC9

http://www.snohd.org/snoLiceArentNice/index.htm#