FOR AN INTEGRATED TREATMENT USE PIOTOX CREAM RINSE ON THE CHILD AND PIOTOX
SOAP ON FOMITES, TOYS, ETC . Presentation Head lice know no social or cultural barriers and are presently in epidemic proportion in preschools and elementary schools in the U.S. THE LICE-BUSTER BOOK (Authentic Pictures, 1995) points out that 10-12 million children in the United States get lice each year. Other than the common cold, lice is a more common condition than all of the childhood communicable diseases combined. All three species of human louse feed at least once a day on human blood. Pediculus humanus var. capitis infests the head, P. humanus var. corporis the clothing, and Pthirus pubis mainly the hair of the pubis. Females cement their eggs (nits) firmly to hair or clothing. The saliva of lice produces an intensely irritating urticarial rash in sensitized persons. Head lice are transmitted directly from person to person and occasionally by shared headgear and grooming implements. The prevalence is highest among school-aged girls who wear long hair; black children are less frequently infested than other children. Excoriations of pruritic lesions on the scalp, neck and shoulders lead to oozing, crusting, matting of hair, bacterial infections, and regional lymphadenopathy (abnormal enlargement of the lymph nodes). Body lice remain in clothing except when feeding and cannot survive more than a few hours away from the human host. It follows, therefore, that P. humanus var. corporis mainly infests disaster victims or indigent persons who do not change their clothes. Transmission by direct contact or by sharing of clothing and beds is enhanced under crowded conditions. The fact that the body louse leaves febrile persons or corpses as they become cold facilitates the transmission of typhus, louse-borne relapsing fever, and trench fever. Pruritic lesions are particularly common around the neckline. The crab or pubic louse is transmitted mainly by sexual contact but can infest eyelashes, axillary hair, and hair in other sites as well as pubic hair. A suspected diagnosis of pediculosis is confirmed by the finding of nits or adult lice on hairs or clothing. The preferred treatment is 1% PERMETHRIN which kills both lice and nits and is available without prescription. After louse infestations have been treated with insecticide, the hair should be combed with a fine tooth nit comb to remove nits. Source: Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. XIV Edition, Volume II. |