Revulsion and alarm. These are the typical first reactions of parents whose children come home from school with head lice. But experts say parents shouldn't let panic upend their homes needlessly as they race about trying to rid their kids - and possibly themselves - of the sesame seed-sized parasites. People tend to just freak with this, says Steve Pray, a professor at the School of Pharmacy at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in the US. One of the first things you have to do in a counseling session is calm them down. A minimalist approach is going to be better here. Millions around the globe affected Another thing you should realize about head lice is you're not alone. As many as six million to 12 million people worldwide get head lice every year, according to …
Collembola (Springtails) (Arthropoda: Hexapoda: Entognatha) Found In Scrapings From Individuals Diagnosed With Delusory Parasitosis
Twenty individuals diagnosed with delusory parasitosis participated in a single site clinical study under the auspices of the National Pediculosis Association (NPA) and the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The objective of this study was to determine if there were any common factors in skin scrapings collected from this population. These individuals, whose symptoms were originally attributed to lice or scabies, were part of a larger group reporting symptoms of stinging/biting and/or crawling to the NPA. Multiple skin scrapings from each person were microscopically examined. Any and all fields of view that appeared incongruous to normal human skin were digitally photographed. When the photographic images were initially evaluated, no common factor was identified. However, more extensive …
Head-lice shampoos can be dangerous
From Consumer Reports - September 2003 The millions of kids who will inevitably turn up with head lice during the coming school year have gained Food and Drug Administration protection against one dangerous prescription treatment--lindane, an organochlorine insecticide that can be toxic to brain cells. But another prescription lice shampoo--brand-named Ovide--is being marketed with use instructions that increase the risk of harm. The FDA recently recommended that lindane be used only with extreme caution in anyone weighing less than 110 pounds, which includes most school-aged children. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, has long advocated taking lindane off the market. The makers of Ovide, which has been available in the U.S. since 1999, have moved to take over …
Say NO To Lice Sprays
Permethrin sprays a health hazard on airplanes, but still sold for children's bedding. Lice sprays may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but contain the pyrethroid known as permethrin. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) warns of the risks of permethrin exposures to humans and is waging a war to stop the spraying of permethrin on airplanes, while permethrin-containing shampoos and sprays are still marketed for children and families, their bedding, furniture and other objects in the home, school, and child care settings. The National Pediculosis Association has since its inception warned against the use of pesticide shampoos and sprays. Why Not To Spray: Head lice are primarily transmitted by person-to-person contact rather than by person-environment-person …
The Kid Still Has Lice
As millions of children return to school this week after the holidays, so will head lice. It's not a new problem, but studies suggest the insects are becoming more resistant to treatment. By Sharon Kirkey - National Post Carolyn, a working mother of three, tries not to let the little things faze her. But when her middle child came home with grayish white lice eggs glued to her hair, she "freaked." She rushed to the drugstore and bought boxes of insecticide-laced shampoos, then scrubbed every head in the house, including her own. She bagged the stuffed toys, washed the sheets, towels, pillowcases and hats, and obsessed about lice lurking in the mattresses. Morning and night, she picked through her six-year-old's hair with a nit comb, prying empty lice shells off with her …
Heads Up Nitpickers
When it comes to lice, one thing we can count on is controversy: Is it true these insects have become resistant to lice shampoos? Do any of the alternative treatments work? Are no-nit policies effective? By John Hoffman THE ISSUE: LICE SHAMPOOS What we've heard For five years or more, parents, teachers, camp directors and daycare operators have been saying lice have grown resistant to pediculicide shampoos - the standard drugstore remedies. Other experts say the big problem is people aren't using the pro-ducts properly, and kids are becoming reinfested after treatment. Now scientific evidence shows parents and others were right. If you do a Google search on head lice, the first two sites that come up are the National Pediculosis Association (NPA), a Massachusetts-based …
John Crayton Snyder, M.D. – In Memoriam
February 19, 2002 Dr. Snyder was a pre-eminent Professor of Population and Public Health, Emeritus, Harvard School of Public Health where he had served as its Dean from 1954 to 1971. He was my friend and mentor. A spirited yet soft-spoken giant of a man, I came to know him because of his vast experience regarding the ability of lice to transmit disease and because of our mutual interest in the life and work of the late Dr. Hans Zinsser. Upon diagnosis of his own terminal illness, Dr. Zinsser, with access to scientists around the world, chose John Snyder as the one he wanted to continue his laboratory work on typhus. As Dr. Snyder once wrote in a letter to me, “Dr. Z asked me if I would give up my Harvard Fellowship in order to work for the Rockefeller Foundation and learn as much as …
National Pollution Prevention Roundtable Awards NPA 2001 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention Award
"It was the first major program to convince physicians to change the medications they prescribe based on environmental concerns." The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) recently announced the winners of the Fifth Annual Most Valuable Pollution Prevention (MVP2) Awards. The MVP2 Awards honor the most innovative and successful pollution prevention (P2) programs in the country. The First Place MVP2 Award was awarded to the Sanitation District of Los Angeles County, City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, and the National Pediculosis Association for its Lindane Usage Reduction Project. Lindane is a persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemical used in prescription medication for head lice and scabies. A single treatment for lice contains enough Lindane to pollute six …
You Light Up My Lice
Shampoo illuminates nits, but incites criticism - By Jeff Kelliher, HealthSCOUT Reporter. WEDNESDAY, June 21 (HealthSCOUT) -- If you've ever had a child with head lice you know that defeating the little buggers is enough to want to make you pull your own hair out. That's what a Yale professor and pediatrician discovered during a recent outbreak of lice in New Haven day care centers. In fact, the experience was enough to motivate Dr. Sydney Spiesel to develop a shampoo that makes removal of the tiny lice eggs, commonly called nits, less of a chore. "I was sort of the court of last resort for this one day care. I spent at least one hour with a girl who had thick, honey-blond hair and I found several nits even though the family had already gone through her hair," says Spiesel. "I …