The National Pediculosis Association Continues its Leadership Role with New Educational Resources and the Tools to CombFirst! NEWTON, Mass. March 26, 2019 No matter how each new generation of parents differs from its predecessors, one fact remains the same—sooner or later, they will be challenged by a lice infestation first identified at school, a childcare center, or camp. What’s changed and improved, though, is parents’ access to a wealth of tools and resources for treating children with lice—without the use of potentially harmful chemicals and pesticides. The catalyst behind these changes is the National Pediculosis Association (NPA)—a nonprofit organization whose impact has continued to grow over the 36 years since its founding. The NPA advocates for the highest possible …
Louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis infection)
“Louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) is an epidemic disease with a fascinating history from Hippocrates’ times, through the 6th century ‘Yellow Plague’, to epidemics in Ireland, Scotland and England in the 19th century and two large Afro-Middle Eastern pandemics in the 20th century. An endemic focus persists in Ethiopia and adjacent territories in the Horn of Africa. Since 2015, awareness of LBRF in Europe, as a re-emerging disease, has been increased dramatically by the discovery of this infection in dozens of refugees arriving from Africa.The causative spirochaete, Borrelia recurrentis, has a genome so similar to B. duttonii and B. crocidurae (causes of East and West African tick-borne relapsing fever), that they are now regarded as merely ecotypes of a single genomospecies. Transmission …
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China Bans Pesticides Lindane and Endosulfan
"China’s environment ministry has issued a ban on the pesticides lindane and endosulfan, substances known to pose health risks to humans. The decision, made jointly with 10 other government departments and published this week, is intended to improve China’s compliance with the Stockholm Convention, an international treaty on pollutants. China formally joined the Stockholm Convention in 2004. Lindane and endosulfan, which are frequently used to treat crops and parasites on humans and animals, are classified under the Stockholm Convention as “persistent organic pollutants” (POPs) that stay in the environment for an exceptionally long time ..." See full article. -- Source: CX Live. …