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Bed lice: how to get rid of at home
Insects in hair, clothes, bed are not necessarily a sign of poverty and untidiness. There is always a risk of infection in public places. An unpleasant situation arises: lice appear in bed linen. Is it dangerous and how to get rid of parasites?
Bed lice: the appearance of insects
Bed lice: features and signs of infection
The louse feeds on human blood and processes food very quickly. Without blood, an adult creature dies in a day, and its larva in a few hours. Therefore, the insect lives exclusively near people – on their skin, hair, clothes. Lice do not live in bedding, but stay temporarily, crawling from an infected person. Usually these are representatives of one of the forms – head or wardrobe.
Insects are not immediately detected in the bed. This is facilitated by their natural properties:
- small size (0,5-3 mm);
- pale gray color, not very prominent against the background of linen;
- weak limbs allowing only slow movement;
- the tendency to hide in seams and folds.
Because of these features, people learn about the presence of lice only on the trail of bites.
The parasite feeds by piercing the victim’s skin with its sharp jaws. For one feeding, an adult sucks 1-3 mg of blood. A painful itchy bump appears at the site of the bite.
If, after staying in bed, such marks form on the body, the linen should be carefully examined. It is important to determine who is the culprit – lice, mosquitoes or bedbugs. The linen louse looks like a light speck on the surface of the fabric. It does not live under the mattress or inside the pillows. At the same time, you need to examine the clothes and hair of all family members.
How to get rid of bed lice at home
Disposal methods are based on the biological characteristics of the insect. Linen louse is not afraid of water, shampoos, soap. But she cannot stand prolonged hunger, high and low temperatures. You can remove parasites in one of the proven ways:
- Take the bed linen outside, shake it out and leave it on the rope for a day. Then wash in the usual way in a typewriter.
- Boil bedding with soap.
- Spray the bed with a special spray from the pharmacy.
Each of the methods is applied simultaneously with the treatment of hair, clothing, and combs for all family members.
Lice in bedding: prevention
Having learned how to get rid of bed lice, do not forget about prevention. If there are children in the family attending child care facilities, their hair and clothing should be checked regularly. The same should be done by adults, who often use public transport, changing rooms, baths. Returning from a business trip, where you had to live in a dubious hotel, you must immediately wash all your clothes.
Parasites in bedding are not only a shameful nuisance, but also a threat to health. Bites cause skin inflammation, allergic reactions, suppuration. Timely insect control and careful prevention eliminate these problems.