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 …
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 …
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 …
New Medical Device Keeps Lice Out Of Everyone’s Hair
The Chemical Approach To Head Lice Has Failed. BOSTON, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- It's almost impossible to find a community in the U.S. that doesn't have kids with lice. The non-profit National Pediculosis Association (NPA) says this fact adds to the scientific evidence that the chemical approach to controlling head lice has failed. The continual reliance on pesticide treatments has enabled the louse to become well established among the childhood population. The NPA advises parents that the safe alternative is to screen often and manually remove lice and nits (lice eggs). To help the millions of families affected by this communicable childhood disease, the NPA has developed the LiceMeister(R) comb, and is making it available to communities through local pharmacies. The February …
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The Most Dangerous Medicine
Mothers have found that the cure can be worse than the complaint By Paula Lyons - Ladies Home Journal - June 1994 For years it was the most commonly prescribed treatment for two of the most vexing and distasteful problems of childhood, head lice and scabies. The treatment’s most recognizable brand name has been Kwell, though it is no longer manufactured under that name. Generically, it is known as lindane. And though it comes in lotion and shampoo form, lindane is actually a very strong pesticide. But parents rarely are aware of this, and they can learn too late that lindane can have the same effect on their children that it has on the insects they carry: In other words, it can attack and permanently damage the central nervous system. On June 10, 1993, Jean Nabors*, of Boise, …