"The Deceptive Dozen": The National Pediculosis Association Offers 12 Important Tips to Help Parents Avoid Misleading Information on Head Lice Twelve of the most commonly made statements about head lice that mislead parents, require fact-checking and put child health and wellness at unnecessary risk. The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) team has compiled a list of red flags to watch out for when seeking information on lice treatment and prevention. The “Deceptive Dozen” list includes some of the most commonly made statements that mislead parents, require fact-checking and put child health and wellness at unnecessary risk. Parents need to be aware of these questionable directives in order to avoid confusion and potentially harmful responses to head lice. The Deceptive …
Helping Each New Generation of Parents Tackle the Age-Old Challenge of Head Lice – Safely and Effectively
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 …
Color Me Healthy
More than just a tool to keep children occupied, coloring books provide an entertaining, friendly, and interactive medium that can simplify otherwise complicated health-related subjects. Important public-health issues are conveyed to children in coloring books in a way that can transform an unpleasant subject into an engaging learning opportunity. For instance, it is uncommon to associate the word “cute” with “lice,” however the The Latest Greatest Coloring Book About Lice, a collection item in the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) historical Prints & Photographs collection, achieves such a feat. This 10 page teaching tool produced by The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) contains whimsical drawings of lice in a story about where they live, how they move, and how people can get …
Index of Human Louse and Disease Articles collected prior to 2016
The Human Louse and Disease Recent Studies Support the Critical Need for Preparedness and Lice Prevention "One of the greatest achievements in the war which the medical sciences have waged against epidemic diseases is the discovery that, during times of quiescence in interepidemic periods, the potential agents of disease may smolder in human carriers, in domestic animals - especially rodents, - and in insects." Hans Zinsser - Rats, Lice and History Pediculosis capitis is the medical term for an infestation of head lice. It is itself an infectious disease. Head lice are highly communicable parasites specific to humans. They require blood meals to survive and have been associated with various infections including rickettsial diseases. Newer technologies are validating research …
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A creepy-crawly head bug one Fargo mother can’t rid her daughter of
"It's a bug one Fargo mother can't shake and it’s costing her roughly $600 dollars to rid her daughter of head lice. Parent Jamie White had heard of other kids complaining about lice in the classroom. We spoke to the family who said this is in fact where her child keeps picking up the bug. They want to see more preventative efforts taken." -- Source: Valley News …
A creepy-crawly head bug one Fargo mother can’t rid her daughter ofRead More
Schools ease up on head lice policies, bugging some parents
Reprint from New York Daily News (via Associated Press), November 2013. Schools across the country are no longer sending home 'lice notes' to parents or requiring kids with lice to stay home from school. Nurses say the notes cause unnecessary panic, while some parents complain about their kids being exposed. Some parents are scratching their heads over less restrictive head lice policies that allow children with live bugs in their hair to return to the classroom for the rest of the day. Above, over the counter products for treating lice. Some parents are scratching their heads over less restrictive head lice policies that allow children with live bugs in their hair to return to the classroom. And some school nurses are no longer sending home the dreaded "lice note" to other …
Schools ease up on head lice policies, bugging some parentsRead More
Activists in Public Health
By Deborah Z. Altschuler "With the exception of an occasional accolade for all the hard work that goes into being an activist, I generally find myself resenting the term." To paraphrase an old proverb, Citizen Activists will never disappoint you if you observe two rules: 1. Find out what they are; 2. Expect them to be just that. Many of us come naturally to advocacy in our role as parents. The activist in public health, however, can face a peculiar set of problems. Regarding Pediculosis, the consensus among contemporary physicians is that head lice are essentially a nuisance, leaving treatment protocols to the pharmaceutical manufacturers who market pediculicides for direct application to human skin. Although it can be a positive force, the pharmaceutical industry is not a proper …
Classic Articles Prior to 2010
The NPA has been helping people around the world since long before there was an Internet. This section features some of the timeless articles and editorials that appeared in peer review journals, newspapers and from the NPA's own publications. Please note that many of these resources will open as pdfs and other document types and some may open not yet formatted for our relaunched website. Return to complete listing of classic articles. 2010The Lindane Project: A Petition to the United States GovernmentLindane is a persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemical to which the US population continues to be exposed to and at risk from the past and current use via the ambient air, water, soil, food, manufacturing, Superfund sites, stockpiles, recycled plastic and the …
Hair-raising facts about lice
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 …