The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Lice Aren’t Nice
You and your family may have had to deal with head lice — the itchy, microscopic insects that love human hair.
More kids are infested with head lice than ever before. Experts believe this is because kids are with other kids so much, in day care, classrooms and after-school activities. Experts think between 6 and 12 million American kids get head lice each year.
Let’s get ahead of lice with some information about these little bloodsucking critters.
It’s not about dirt
Some people believe that people who get lice are dirty. This is not true. In fact, it is just the opposite.
Lice like clean hair. It is harder for them to cling to dirty, oily hair.
Lice infest children more than adults. This is probably because kids have more contact with one another than adults do. They are more likely to come in contact with each other while playing, for example.
Girls are more likely to get lice than boys. Girls usually have longer hair, which means it may touch other hair more often.
What lice are
A louse is a type of insect with no wings. When there is only one, it is called a louse. More than one are called lice.
Different kinds of lice live on different kinds of hair. They don’t usually move from one type to another.
For example, human head lice would not be happy living on your pet. They don’t live on other body hair, either. They like fine hair that grows fairly close to other hairs.
What lice do
A louse is a type of parasite. A parasite is a plant or animal that lives in or on another living creature. This being is called a host. The parasite feeds off the host and gives nothing back. Some parasites may harm their hosts. Head lice do not harm humans.
Lice suck blood from the host’s body. They need to feed every hour and a half.
The bloodsucking causes itching and irritation in the person infested with lice. People can sometimes feel the insects crawling through their hair.
A growing problem
A female louse may attach an oval-shaped egg to a person’s hair about one-half inch from the scalp. That spot is where the best hatching temperature is.
The egg hatches after seven to 10 days. When an egg hatches, the empty louse egg is called a nit.