By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia

Even Paul Guillebeau scratches his head when talking about head
lice. The tiny creatures are his focus, especially when it
comes to reducing students’ exposure to pesticides associated
with the insect’s control.

Guillebeau is an Extension entomologist with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He
and his colleague, Gretchen Pettis, are preparing for the
onslaught of calls they’ll receive as soon as children across
the state return to school.

“Something like 15 million people get head lice each year,”
said Guillebeau, who also serves as the college’s integrated
pest management coordinator. “Additionally, there are numerous
reports of head lice populations that are resistant to commonly
available head lice shampoos.”

It doesn’t matter what kind of socio-economic background or
ethnicity a person has. Head lice aren’t selective when it
comes to choosing a new host. But the negative connotation is
still there.

Guillebeau recalls one instance in particular. A mother called
him because she said her children had head lice and the
infestation was so bad “they were jumping off the cabinet.”

He replied that head lice can’t jump, hop or fly. They can,
however, crawl.

This particular desperate mother had tried everything she could
think of to get rid of the head lice. But they kept coming
back. It turns out that her sister’s children had head lice,
and her sister wouldn’t admit it so the children were being
reinfested each time they played with their cousins.

“The perception is always hard to overcome,” Pettis said. “Just
because a child has head lice doesn’t mean that the child or
the school is unclean.”

The danger of a head lice outbreak isn’t the insect itself,
because it doesn’t transmit diseases or cause illness. It’s the
way schools and parents try to combat head lice.

“The health risk is people doing foolish things with
pesticides,” Guillebeau said.

Pesticide sprays do little or nothing to control lice, a point
Guillebeau and Pettis make in the head lice publications, “A
Parent’s Guide to the ‘Nitty Gritty’ about Head Lice” and “A
School’s Guide to the ‘Nitty Gritty’ about Head Lice.” The
pamphlets are both available on the Web at
http://entomology.ent.uga.edu/online_pubs.htm.

The best way for school officials to combat an outbreak is to
clean items like headphones and other objects that touch a
student’s head. Students’ jackets, hats and scarves should also
be stored separately.

Guillebeau and Pettis also encourage early intervention by
identifying children who have an infestation and notifying
their parent or guardian.

Head lice can’t form colonies in carpet or anywhere else in a
home, Guillebeau said. They require a human host to spread an
infestation and can “live off the body no more than a day or
two.”

Unlabeled treatments, such as kerosene and yard chemicals,
applied to a child’s head can be dangerous. And medicated head
lice shampoos won’t kill all the eggs, known as nits, Pettis
said.

The only way to get rid of head lice completely is with a
combination of the shampoos and manual removal. To remove the
nits, a parent or guardian must comb through each section of a
child’s hair from the root all the way to the tip.

“The quality of a nit comb makes a big difference,” Guillebeau
said. “The best are made out of steel. Inexpensive plastic
combs are just not as good.”

When parents use a nit comb, Pettis said it’s best to dip the
comb in warm, soapy water after each sweep through the child’s
hair.

“The biggest take-home message to parents is to encourage
schools not to spray pesticides,” she said. “Sprays expose
children to unnecessary risks and aren’t effective for head
lice management. And always use a nit comb. It’s an essential
part of lice removal.”

(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)