Head Lice Facts - Transmission, Symptoms and Treatments
By Paula Tooney
Head lice lead to highly emotional reactions and it is not always easy to tell between
misconceptions and facts. Here are some of the most important head lice facts about how they
can be transmitted, what are the symptoms associated, and how to treat lice infestations
properly.
Transmission of Head Lice
Lice do not fly nor jump but they are excellent climbers and walkers thanks to their six legs.
They are spread by direct contact between different people's hair. Coming very close to the
head of someone who is infected with lice is therefore a great risk of infecting your own hair.
This is why children are mostly affected by lice, as they usually have close head-to-head
contacts when they are playing.
Lice need human blood to survive, so they are only transmitted from a human to another
human. It is impossible to catch lice from your pets; lice that live on pets belong to a different
species. This is also why you should never treat head lice with your pets' shampoos; this
would not be effective and moreover it could be very dangerous for your health.
You can catch lice from personal belongings but this is rather rare, because if lice are away
from a human body for about 48 hours they will die. If there is a hair with a lice on it on a
scarf or a hat, you might catch it but only if it has been there for less than two days.
Anyone can get head lice, it has nothing to do with hygiene. You can still get lice even if you
wash your hair regularly, as even clean hair can be infected.
Symptoms of Head Lice
The itchy scalp is the main symptom of an infection with lice and nits, and the itching may
also continue for some time after the treatment.
But it is very important to know that there are not always symptoms associated with lice. You
can have lice even if there are no itching symptoms. Sometimes you will not scratch your
head, as lice and nits do not necessarily cause itching.
Indeed, the itching is mainly caused by an allergic reaction to the saliva deposited by the lice
at the root of the hair (during blood sucking), and this allergic reaction does not necessarily
take place if the person is not sensitive to this saliva. You might as well have lice and not
know it, or itching symptoms can appear several weeks after you catch them.
Treatments
Head lice treatments will be useful but you can't expect to get rid of lice by only using a
treatment. Indeed it must always be associated with a thorough brushing of the hair with a lice
comb, and you should do it over several days or weeks.
It is useless to treat persons in the household who are not infected with lice, so you should
only treat those who are actually infected. Make sure every member of the family has its own
comb, to reduce the risk of contagion.
You do not have to use chemical products to get rid of head lice. There are a lot of home
remedies and natural treatments that have proven to work very well, some of them even
scientifically.
Once you have a good understanding of what head lice are, what are the symptoms associated,
and how you should treat them, you are armed to fight against these parasites and you are on
your way to get rid of them once and for all.
For more head lice facts and a free mini-course on how to kill head lice naturally, visit
http://headlicecenter.com.
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