Head Lice (Pediculosis)

1. Durham Region Public Health Department (905) 723-8521
2. The National Pediculosis Association Inc.
   This one is a must see! The National Pediculosis Association Inc. is not only the most comprehensive site I found, it is the central authority for treating head lice.
3. Pediculosis
   Pediculosis provides comprehensive information about head lice, lice treatment, nits, pediculosis, lice control and nit combs.

1. Head Lice to Dead Lice - 15 minute video
2. Vison Visor -- Molded acrylic optical glass lens, Lightweight, adjustable headband for total comfort , Tilt up and away when not in use, May be worn over prescription or safety glasses, Provides close-up magnification while leaving both hands free for working , Extremely durable---resistant to dirt and grease $14.95
3. LiceMeister - The first and only nit and lice removal comb to carry the NPA name. The LiceMeister combing tool will revolutionize the mechanical removal of head lice and their nits, making it possible to get it right the first time.
4. RID
5. R & C by Reid & Carnrick, Block Drug
6. NIX by Warner Lambert

1. Frequently Asked Questions by Richard J. Pollack, PhD -- Infested children and adults may suffer from itching, lose sleep, have a shortened attention span, and be depressed.
2. Fight Head Lice without Toxic Chemicals by Bruce Schennum, M.A.
   • Among the reactions to lice treatments: seizures, attention deficit disorders, chronic skin eruptions, brain tumors, cancer and death. Close to 70% of the reported serious reactions to lice medications (pediculicides) were associated with the dangerous chemical Lindane (brand name - Kwell). Pyrethrins (brand names: Rid, Pronto, etc.) and permethrin (Nix) were responsible for most of the remaining incidents.
   • New labeling requirements warn parents that lindane can cause neuro-toxicity, and FDA recommends that lindane only be used in cases where other treatments are ineffective.
   • Natural Remedy to the Rescue. Lindane is the active ingredient in products such as Kwell, Bio-Well, Kwellada, Kwildane, and others. It is a powerful neuro-toxin. Facts about lindane include: In 1976 the FDA issued an alert regarding the potential harmful effects of lindane. Lindane is described by its manufacturer as a powerful contact and internal poison. In 1990 and 1993 NPA president Deborah Altschuler testified in legal suits on behalf of children permanently disabled after use of lindane. Lindane has been banned in 18 countries and severely restricted in 10 others. The risks of lindane are well documented in peer-reviewed medical literature, in FDA's lindane docket, in the profile of the Agency for Toxic Substances, and in the Drug Registry. Despite all of the well documented risks surrounding lindane use, the drug is still widely prescribed. It is reimbursable by Medicaid. With safer pediculicides available, many experts advise never using lindane to get rid of head lice.
   • New test results from Israel suggest that a safe, natural preparation made from essential plant oils and isopropyl alcohol may be less toxic and more effective than pyrethrin based pediculicides. Marketed in Israel as Chick-Chack, and in the U.S. as HairClear 1-2-3, this natural product has proven 100% effective in killing head lice for up to two days after application. HairClear has also proven effective at helping to remove nits (eggs) from the hair. 'Safety and efficacy were our primary concerns,' said Dr. Kosta Mumcuoglu, who did scientific testing on the product. 'We feel this preparation is very safe, and it may be more effective than pyrethrin or permethrin based products now that lice are developing resistance to these products.' HairClear is not an FDA approved pediculicide in the U.S., so Quantum, is marketing it as a cosmetic shampoo. 'We're counting on news stories and word of mouth advertising to inform consumers about HairClear,' says Quantum president Eve McClure. 'We feel that most parents are concerned about their children's health, and don't want them to put neuro-toxins on their head.'

1. A Lousy, Nit-Picking Epidemic
   • Five nurses worked all morning on the heads of 600 children at the Rachel Carson Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md., spending five to seven minutes per scalp, looking for signs of infestation. In the end, 12 percent of the students and 10 percent of the staff were sent home. It was the worst invasion of head lice in a long time. "In other years we have two, sometimes four cases of lice," says Laura Hart Silkwood, the principal. "This is highly, highly unusual. The numbers kept rising."
   • In Iowa, Virginia and Oklahoma, newspaper articles have discussed the merits of such home remedies as olive oil and vinegar.
   • In Rhode Island, Idaho and Florida, parents are trading tips on smearing their kids' hair with vaseline, steam cleaning the carpets and storing teddy bears in the refrigerator.
   • The human head louse has been around for millenniums. Archaeologists have found evidence of head lice in the hair of ancient Egyptian mummies.
   • Although no definitive studies on resistant strains of head lice have been completed in the U.S. (results of a Harvard investigation won't be ready for several months), two recent papers from Israel and the Czech Republic seem to support the resistant-strain theory.
   • As a result, parents have been turning to all sorts of bizarre alternatives, including eucalyptus and neem oils and chrysanthemum-flower extract, solutions that have been recommended on the Internet. Others have taken to smearing their children's heads with mayonnaise, petroleum jelly or Crisco, then having the kids sleep in a shower cap. In July a 13-year-old girl in Lorimor, Iowa, died after her mother doused her head in gasoline and a pilot light on the family's hot-water heater ignited the fumes. Last spring, a six-year-old Oklahoma girl stopped breathing temporarily after her mother's boyfriend soaked her hair in Diazinon, an agricultural insecticide. "It's a commentary on how bad the situation is," says Kramer. "Physicians are running out of things to tell people to use."
   • Advice on insecticides and home remedies, as well as on the best methods for cleaning sheets, clothing and pillowcases, is reviewed in two new books, Wiping Out Head Lice by Nicholas Bakalar (Signet; $5.99) and The Lice-Buster Book: What to Do When Your Child Comes Home with Head Lice by Lennie Copeland (Warner Books; $8.99).
2. The lice squad (8/15/97)
   The National Pediculosis Association estimates that 10 million to 12 million children are infested each year, and the number is growing. He extracted 10 live lice from the head of an elementary school child who had suffered repeat infestations. He put five in a control dish and five in a dish saturated with permethrin, the active ingredient in some of the most popular anti-lice shampoos. "They should have been dead within a half hour," Engber said. "They lived for hours."
   • Head lice don't transmit disease, but they are surely a nuisance -- and a costly one at that. Last year, according to the association's estimates, consumers spent more than $100 million on over-the-counter lice treatments such as Rid and Nix, up about $18 million over the previous year. And Warner Lambert reported a 52 percent increase in sales of Nix last year, to $42 million. A bottle costs $12.89.
   • Israeli researchers found that resistance to natural pyrethroids by head lice has developed rapidly since permethrin, the synthetic version of the natural pesticide, was introduced in Israel in 1991.
   • These are desperate times for people at war with head lice. Altschuler says the pediculosis association fields about 50 calls a day and its World Wide Web home page averages 5,000 hits a day from parents and teachers searching for answers.
   • In the next few months, he says, a "mini-action group" of officials from the FDA, CDC and NIH will begin reviewing anecdotal and epidemiologic reports of treatment failures, reinfestations and resistance issues to see if there are any "real signals" of a public health problem. "We don't know whether it's really treatment failures or if it's that a person gets reinfested," he says. The group's work should be concluded within a year. . The FDA operates a consumer registry for health care professionals to report serious problems with OTC products or product failure. The number is (800) 332-1088.

1. American Head Lice Information Center
   • Recent experiments by entomologists at the Harvard School of Public Health confirm that olive oil smothers and kills active head lice. People also report that the olive oil makes nit removal easier and remoisturizes the scalp after the pediculicide.
2. Human Lice, HYG-2094-96 -- Here is a nontoxic head lice control plan described in "Common-Sense Pest Control," an entomology textbook.
3. Five Steps to Head Lice Elimination -- Step 1 Find the Lice, Step 2 Kill the Lice, Step 3 Remove the Nits, Step 4 Double Check that Eggs are Gone, Step 5 Clean up the Environment Illustration of 5 step process
4. November, 1997 PedTalk List Archives: Headlice -- Something that has seemed to work for me: after treament and removal of ALL nits, wash the childs hair on a daily basis and dry it with a hairdryer. This allows for frequent checks of the child's head, and the heat can't hurt either! We haven't had a reinfestation for about 6 months now with me doing this.
5. Lindane -- Comprehensive Research site and current news on lindane including recent California ban for head lice and scabbies.

1. NYCAP - Solutions Magazine : Schools
2. Medical Self-Care Lice - Health World Online