In the Press (all articles)

It's a simple sentence that captures the hopes and fears of modern-day parents as much as the bronze age Canaanite who owned the doubled-edged ivory comb on which the words appear. Believed to be the oldest known sentence written in the earliest alphabet, the inscription on the luxury item reads: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.” Unearthed in Lachish, a Canaanite city state in the second millennium BCE and the second most important city in the kingdom of Judah, the comb suggests that humans have endured lice for thousands of years and that even the wealthiest were not spared the grim infestations. "The inscription is very human," said Prof Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who helped direct the Lachish excavations. …

Oldest known sentence written in first alphabet discovered – on a head-lice combRead More

Background: Human pediculosis is caused by hematophagous lice, which are transmitted between individuals via direct and/or indirect contact. Despite the public health importance of louse infestation, information concerning the global burden of pediculosis and the epidemiological landscape of louse-borne diseases is limited. The aim of this review was to summarize the biology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and control of lice infestation in humans. We also discussed the latest advances in molecular taxonomy and molecular genetics of lice. Methods: We searched five electronic bibliographic databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, CNKI, VIP Chinese Journal Database, and Wanfang Data) and followed a standard approach for conducting scoping reviews to identify studies on various aspects of human lice. …

Human pediculosis, a global public health problemRead More

FDA clears pesticide shampoos for lice and then the manufacturers market them as a “kit” with a lice spray for a child’s personal environment. Bad idea!! Always has been.  It all adds up – and researchers are speaking out. A new CHEM Trust report “Chemical cocktails – The neglected threat of toxic mixtures and how to fix it”, highlights the reality of our exposure to multiple chemicals, the threat it represents to our health and the wider environment and why we are not properly protected.In the report we call for urgent action from the EU to better protect people and the wider environment from exposure to real-life chemical cocktails. In our analysis, there are workable and effective policy solutions available to address this complex problem. The EU should now adopt them to deliver the …

Chemical Cocktails – The neglected threat of toxic mixtures and how to fix itRead More

European men were adamant on wearing wigs whenever they would go out. The wig at that time was commonly known as the peruke wig or the periwig. These wigs had a huge history behind them and they were not only worn as a fashionable statement.Wigs were not only a fashion statement but they were also a representation of a higher social rank and even royal blood. The wealthy Europeans hid many secrets under their wigs. These secrets were very gruesome and included bloody open sores and gruesome patches of hair loss due to syphilis.These wigs were also used as a means to prevent head lice until the wigs got infested. Medieval wigs truly have a lot of history under their elaborate structures.History of Yesterday: …

The Real Reason People From History Wore Powdered WigsRead More

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted abrupt and potentially lasting changes to human behavior, including the types of direct contact that enable transmission of common pathogens. Although the handshake and other types of physical contact are gradually returning, they have been on an extended hiatus. Such changes have already altered the epidemiology of a broad range of infectious diseases, including influenza, measles, and norovirus, and will likely continue to affect their age distribution, severity, and typical seasonal patterns. Changes to contact patterns may also nudge the evolutionary trajectory of pathogens, as they adapt to new norms of less human contact. Initiatives to measure social contact patterns through time and track their effects on the epidemiology of endemic …

The hiatus of the handshakeRead More