“Mummy! My head is itchy!” Your baby may have been infected with the dreaded head lice.
Head lice are tiny insects that live on the scalp. Lice have 3 stages in their life cycle
- Nits (eggs) are whitish-grey, tan, or yellow oval eggs. The eggs are often seen stuck to the hair, behind the ears or at the back of the neck
- Nymphs are young lice that are smaller than adult lice
- Adult lice that can live up to 30 days on a person’s head. They move around on the scalp and are much more difficult to see than nits.
Nymphs and adult lice can live for up to 2 days away from the scalp. Eggs can live for up to 3 days away from the human host or scalp. One can detect live lice by using a fine-tooth louse comb on dry or wet hair.
Signs and symptoms of head lice may include:
- Itchy scalp (may be worse at night)
- Scratching marks or small red lesions like a rash
Prevention and Treatment
- Treatment is with pediculicides (substances used to treat lice) or by Manual removal
- Discourage direct head to head contact between children.
- Encourage your child from sharing things like hats, combs, hairbrushes, helmets, or headphones.
- If your child has lice, wash all his washable items in hot water and for the others put in a plastic bag and place in a freezer for 48 hours to kill the lice.
Access everything you need to know about back to school infections and how to deal with them here.
