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Parents’ complaints about their children bringing head lice from school are more and more often read on the Internet. This fact was confirmed by the heads of schools and kindergartens, and the spokesman of the Sanepid said directly that the problem of head lice currently affects most schools and kindergartens in our country. Although the lice problem is increasing, there is silence around the subject.
Lice as a shameful problem
In our Polish society, there is a belief that the occurrence of lice is associated with dirt, poverty and the lack of compliance with basic hygiene rules, which has made the subject of this disease a taboo subject in our country. The problem grows, but there is silence around it. Meanwhile, head lice has always been present all over the world and affects all continents, climatic zones and populations. For example, US figures say that one child in ten has head lice every now and then, and the annual cost of measures needed to combat the disease is almost $ 1 billion. Therefore, it is necessary to realize the true nature of head lice in order to be able to combat it effectively.
Lice as the beginning of a parasitic disease
Lice do not come from dirt, they lead to an infectious disease of the scalp. Parasites can be passed from one person to another through direct contact or through the shared use of combs, hairbrushes, hairpins, rubber bands as well as hats and scarves.
What parasite causes head lice?
Presence leads to disease head lice (head lice) – it is a parasite found only on the hairy part of the scalp and feeding on its blood. The size of an adult beige-brown insect is not more than 2-3 mm. Lice larvae are whitish-brown in color and the size resembles a pinhead. The female usually lays 6 to 8 eggs a day for the next 20 days. Thanks to the sticky substance, the larvae stick firmly to the scalp. Within 10 days, the eggs hatch into a larva, which then develops into an adult.
Red lumps appear at the site of the bite, causing itchiness and resembling a mosquito bite. The head louse does not jump, but creeps, moving rapidly along the length of the hair. For this reason, lice infection requires direct contact with the sick person. For this reason, the greatest risk of infection is among children and adolescents who, unlike adults, do not keep a sufficient distance – they hug their heads while playing, sleep next to each other during an after-dinner nap in kindergarten, exchange hair elastics, etc. The occurrence of lice intensifies during the holiday season, when many children go out for dinner, trips or camps. In addition, being in large crowds of people, shared bathrooms, or games are factors that contribute to the spread of lice.
Therefore, before your child goes to a camp, kolen or green school, think about prevention:
- Does your baby have long hair? Shorten them before departure or teach to tie.
- Inform your child that personal care items such as a comb, a towel, garments, and a brush should be his own and should not be lent to anyone.
- Tell your child that they should wash their head at least once a week. In addition, provide your child with hygiene products such as shampoos and conditioners to help detangle and comb their hair.
- After returning home, be sure to check the child’s head and hair, repeat these checks regularly, e.g. once every two weeks.
Lice – symptoms
The main symptom of the presence of lice is itching on the neck and head. If we notice that the child is scratching a lot, we should have the hair checked as soon as possible.
How can I check my hair for lice?
Part your hair close to the skin, paying particular attention to the back of the head and the area behind the ears. A dense comb that combs through wet hair can help us with this. Lice are hard to see in the hair, so it’s best to use a contrasting, light-colored comb for dark hair and dark hair for blonde hair. If we notice that there are lice, larvae or eggs left between the teeth of the comb, we buy a special preparation at the pharmacy and use it according to the leaflet. However, make sure that the preparation is suitable for a child of a given age, does not cause allergies and does not irritate the skin.
Lice – treatment
Doctors consider the agents that contain substances that belong to the group of silicone oils to be the most effective and the least harmful in fighting head lice. These are non-toxic agents which, by sticking to the head, cut off access to air by lice. However, in the fight against lice, home remedies such as:
- rubbing the head with oil,
- rubbing the head with vinegar.
Shampoos with coconut oil and olive oil work well for lice prevention. These shampoos contain fatty acids that kill lice. These parasites also dislike tea tree oil, eucalyptus, lavender, and rosemary oils, as well as menthol. The lice treatment must be repeated after 7-8 days to ensure that the disease does not come back. Lice should not be ignored, and if left untreated, they can lead to bacterial skin infection and lichen-like lesions, and in extreme cases even to alopecia areata.
In order to be sure that we have managed to completely eliminate lice, we should treat everyone with whom we live under the same roof with a lice preparation (apart from pets, animals do not become infected with human lice). It is not necessary to carry out a large disinfection of the apartment, it is enough to clean it thoroughly and do a great wash. It is important because lice can survive for 2 days outside the human skin, e.g. on clothes, furniture or in bedding, and their eggs for up to two weeks. Therefore, all carpets, armchairs, sofas and even matereca should be thoroughly vacuumed. In addition, we should not forget about the car seats! After you finish vacuuming, put the dust bag in a plastic bag, seal it tightly, and then throw it away. When it comes to children’s clothes, bedding or towels, we should wash them at 60 ° C. What cannot be washed at high temperature – e.g. blankets, pillows, stuffed animals – we put in plastic bags for two weeks to wait out the entire lice development cycle. We throw away personal accessories, such as a comb, brush, hair elastic or comb, and buy new ones.
Parents who find lice in their child, out of shame, generally do not inform their teachers at school or kindergarten. This causes the disease to spread further. If the information about the diagnosis of head lice was passed on in the interview, all parents could check the children’s hair and start treatment immediately.
Who Should Control Lice In A Child?
Fighting lice now rests with the parents, schools cannot control the cleanliness of their students. Such inspections took place twice during the school year until December 2004. On December 12 of that year, the Regulation of the Minister of Health on the scope and organization of preventive health care for children and adolescents (Journal of Laws No. 282, item 2814) and recommendations of the Institute of Mother and Child, included in the publication Standards and methodology of work of a nurse and hygienist came into force school. On the basis of these documents, the students’ cleanliness was not checked. Their former manner of carrying out was found to be a violation of children’s rights. From now on, the child’s cleanliness may be checked only with the consent and at the request of the parents. And here comes the problem, because not all parents agree. So what to do when there are no permits and head lice occurs in the school?
It is worth looking at the experiences of other countries, for example in Germany a school sends a student home with lice for treatment. He may return to lessons only when he shows up with a doctor’s certificate that the problem has been solved. Or maybe it is worth reintroducing school controls only in a different form, not affecting the dignity of the student. After all, lice control can be done without witnesses, during the student’s visit to the nurse’s office. If the checks are preceded by an earlier educational campaign, no one would raise any objections (neither the pupils nor the parents).
Text: Barbara Skrzypińska