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Itchy parasites How to quickly rid your head lice
Head lice are especially common for children's heads
Head lice (Pediculus capitis) are wingless insects that are barely visible to the naked eye as tiny moving points. The animals live on the blood of their hosts and give sucking while sucking saliva in the resulting bite wound to stop the blood clotting. While this process does not normally present a health hazard to humans, saliva causes itching typical of head lice. The transmission takes place from person to person as a result of close physical contact, whereby even a short hug is sufficient so that the animals can crawl on the next head. Also by the common use of brushes, hats or similar. It can come to a contagion, therefore, spread the little crawler especially in community facilities for children such as schools and daycare especially quickly.
Therapy against lice infestation. Image: Lars Zahner - fotolia Infestation has nothing to do with poor hygiene
Often, head lice cause disgust, because many people associate the insects with poor hygiene and unwashed hair. These aspects play no role in the infestation, because lice use according to the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) to lay their eggs all accessible heads - regardless of how often someone washes his hair. As the German Pediculosis Society informs, the age group of eight to twelve year old children is most often affected, while adults are much less affected by the bloodsucking animals. "Lice infestation is clearly a childhood disease," explains the Chairman of the Pediculosis Society, Jan Krüger, to the "dpa".
Avoiding body contact does not guarantee safe protection
But that was no reason for an overreaction, according to Michael Forßbohm of the Wiesbaden public health office, because it has hardly any effect, as it does so, if care is taken to avoid close contact with other people. According to the lice expert, preventive measures of protection do not exist, "only the bearer and the hermit can feel safe". Instead, the best prevention is to act as fast as possible to prevent further spread in the day care center or school.
Accordingly, parents should immediately notify educators and teachers when they discover lice in their child. In the next step, all other children of the institution as well as the close caregivers of the affected child should be examined as well. It is important to look closely, because not always caused by the insects the characteristic itching. Instead, it can take up to two weeks, especially at first attack, until it tingles and scratches. "During this time, most lice are transmitted," explains Forßbohm.
Comb hair strand by strand
In order to detect a possible infestation, it is advisable to use a conditioner after washing, since the insects can not move in this. Then the hair is combed piece by piece with a fine comb, which is streaked after each strand on a towel. If you can finally see small moving dots here, the child has obviously become infected.
Alternatively, vinegar water can also "paralyzing" the small insects. For this, a portion of household vinegar and two parts of warm water are mixed, then allowed to act on the mixture for about ten minutes on the hair, before the procedure with the lice comb.
Lice eggs survive first treatment with special shampoo
In order to completely get rid of the crawlies, two methods should be combined on the advice of the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Center for Health Education. Accordingly, the hair should first be treated with a special lice shampoo or spray from the pharmacy, through which the parasites are usually already killed. However, since the lice eggs survive, the therapy should not be abruptly aborted - instead, "[...] it is imperative to repeat the treatment after eight to ten days, when the larvae hatched," emphasizes Forßbohm. As a second measure, the hair should be combed wet every four days (four times in total) with a conditioner and a special comb to remove surviving lice and newly hatched larvae.
Home remedies can help against lice
Parents and stakeholders could, on the advice of the expert in the selection of a suitable lice agent, find advice in the pharmacy. An important point, because agents with chemical insecticides are not always compatible and should generally not be used by children, pregnant women or nursing women. Alternatively, silicone oil-based products can be used, which attach themselves to the respiratory openings of the lice and thus lead to the suffocation of the animals. According to Hermann Feldmeier of the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene at the Charité Berlin, the effectiveness of these funds has been proven; moreover, they could be used repeatedly without hesitation.
As a further home remedy for lice heated olive oil has been proven. This is generously applied to hair and scalp and should act for several hours, with the head wrapped in a towel. Then the hair with the lice comb carefully freed of eggs and nits and washed, the normal shampoo can be enriched here if necessary with a few drops of tea tree or lavender oil. According to Forßbohm, however, extensive cleaning measures in the home can be dispensed with, because the risk of spreading is low in one's own four walls. "Lice can survive up to 55 hours outside the host. Even a transfer of bedding, stuffed animals or clothing is unlikely, "said the expert. (No)