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We become infected with clothing lice through direct or indirect contact (clothing, bedding). This disease is caused by arthropods, which are slightly larger and lighter than head lice (they are about 3, 4-5 millimeters). Clothing lice stick mainly to clothes, they do not live on the skin.
The appearance of clothing lice
The body of clothing lice is divided into head, torso and abdomen, it is flattened dorso-ventrally. Lice feed on human blood and have a stinging mouth and sucking apparatus. Due to the fact that they have four pairs of clinging legs, they can stick firmly to our skin. The color of lice depends on how much they are sucked in by human blood. Remember that all lice feed only on blood! Thanks to their antennae, they can sense the host’s warmth and the scent of the skin very quickly. This parasite lives in the seams of underwear or clothes, temporarily traveling to the skin to suck blood, which causes itching of the skin, red swollen lumps, erosions, sometimes small scars and discoloration (so-called vagabond skin). Clothing lice can transmit typhus and return fever germs.
What causes clothing lice?
We become infected with clothing lice through direct or indirect contact with clothing (seams on clothes, overlaps or fabric folds) and with bedding. Head lice do not live on the skin, unlike head lice. The disease-causing arthropods are about 4 millimeters in size and feed on blood. Clothing louse multiplies very quickly, however, it lives shorter, about 10 days. The problem with this type of lice is that arthropods can transmit typhoid fever and rickettsiosis. The disease most often affects the homeless.
Development of lice
A larva (young louse) hatches from the nits (eggs), which immediately resembles a mature louse. The female lives up to 45 days, while the male up to 32 days, and the length of the development cycle depends primarily on temperature and humidity. Under appropriate conditions, 70-97 larvae hatch from 100 eggs. Temperature plays a big role in the hatching of lice from eggs. We distinguish three larval stages of lice. The entire cycle of lice development consists of the following stages:
- development of the embryo in the eggs (this period lasts from 4 to 6 weeks)
- development of the 3st stage larvae (about 5-XNUMX days)
- development of stage II larvae (about 4-5 days)
- development of stage III larvae (about 3-4 days)
- the period of sexual maturity is the longest
In order for the lice to hatch, there must be adequate humidity. Lice hatching is adversely affected by temperature changes, e.g. continuous change of day and night underwear due to cooling (clothing in direct contact with the human body is heated from the inside to 32-34 degrees), it extends lice incubation to 2-3 weeks, while in non-removable underwear, the eggs hatch after 7-10 days. In summer, lice develop much worse, because on hot days we wear lighter clothes, change and air them more often. In winter, on the other hand, under a layer of thick clothing, the temperature on our body remains constant (sufficiently high).
Symptoms of clothing lice
The symptoms of clothing lice include:
- unbearable itching of the skin, which is aggravated especially at night,
- a swollen papule (formed after a louse has sucked out blood),
- the presence of brown discoloration and small scars that appear after cuts and secondary purulent infections,
- peeling and thickening of the skin due to scratching,
- typhoid fever (clothes lice often carry it).
Skin changes occur most often where our body is in direct contact with clothing (neck, arms, buttocks, chest).
Diagnosis of clothing lice
The diagnosis of clothing lice is based mainly on the typical clinical symptoms of the disease and the exclusion of scabies accompanied by scabies, but they are located in different places than clothing lice. The doctor should also rule out all other diseases that manifest themselves with ailments similar to clothing lice.
Clothing lice – treatment
Treatment of clothing lice requires a special sanitary regime (bathing, drug use, change of underwear and clothes). As an aid in the treatment, reach for the Bioherba Atopic Skin Tar Soap, which effectively repels lice and nourishes the skin at the same time, soothing inflammation.
Read also: Head lice invasion