Head Lice is a Public Health Emergency

My Perspective of the Current Lice Epidemic as a Public Health Specialist:

I have more than a personal interest in how to eliminate lice from my family and home. The more I learn and the more experience I gain, the more layered and confounding it becomes.

So I found out last night that my daughter hasn’t been checked for lice again in like weeks or a month even. It’s really hard to see them in thick, long hair and even in short hair. They are fast and they hide. So attempts (on my part for example) to check my daughter are just not reliable.
Daughters father is aware that I’ve been having to treat for lice regularly since this started. So she’s been exposed for sure by me and also very likely at school where she probably got it initially.
Getting rid of these parasites has become like a challenging puzzle. I keep finding more pieces. First of all- the internet is completely unreliable for information. And so are most medical providers. AND many of the “lice removal specialists” who are not licensed or formally trained. The one I met was clearly a businesswoman capitalizing on the whole situation.
If I was to invest in a company right now- absolutely it would be “lice removal specialist” because since the CDC and some other medical organizations have defunded these parasites- people do not know what to do and are often even TOLD to try a “lice clinic”.
I’m not saying they’re all bogus. But I’ve looked into a few of them and some of their “research practices” based on “science” is not only contradictory to their claims but also at least 15 years outdated.
Many of these lice clinics also provide advice that I’ve found to be totally bogus like “there is no need to do any laundry or even change bedding”. That’s ridiculous. But it’s very appealing to people who would rather not do that stuff. They want to pay someone to temporarily (maybe) get rid of the lice and simultaneously never have to think about it again. It would be tempting.
My personal experience, which I have proven through at least one video, is that lice ARE capable of living off the head, albeit maybe not for longer than a few days. However, I have seen them on flat surfaces- in this case- a bathtub with a shower. Not only seen them, but seen them clearly crawling. Not immediately after I left the shower either. Two entire days after I had last used that shower.

Some lice facts:

They can crawl on carpet at approximately 9 inches per minute.

They cannot “survive” on pet hair or pets. HOWEVER, they can grab onto pet hair and be transported to other areas.

Pets and other inanimate objects that can temporarily transfer diseases are called “fomites”.

Fomites for lice include any surface but are especially common on clothing, carpets, bedding, pretty much any fabric.

Lice can also remain alive on hard surfaces like eyeglasses or a countertop but will have a much more difficult time moving about.

Lice can hold their breath. For more than 8 hours. They do require air to live so suffocating them requires and entirely airless and sealed environment.

Lice hide from light. They will and can crawl onto clothing, bedding, facial hair, eyebrows, eyelashes or any nearby surface for temporary hiding.

Many sources claim that lice are merely a “nuisance” and not a medical condition. This claim is particularly nonsensical because they often require medications to treat, manage symptoms that lice cause such as itching, headaches, dehydration, scalp irritation and in some cases, iron deficiency anemia.

Lice are claimed both to be parasites that can only live on the human scalp yet also “an environmental problem” that has no medical value. So which is it?

Human lice only drink the blood of humans, without a live human host, human head lice will die. How is that an “environmental” problem?

The American Pediculosis Society has expressed quite a bit of concern over this issue. They predict that body lice- the very similarly structured lice who DO transmit many lethal diseases- have become more common and that the rampant cases of head lice will most certainly evolve into body lice- which causes such diseases the likes of which we haven’t seen since World War I. Trench Fever, also known as typhus and other diseases.

Most medical professionals including doctors, pediatricians and others no longer even know what a louse looks like. They also do not know how to examine the scalp for one. I had this happen to me more than once. They are hard to see if they are not fully grown and about to die. They can live for about one month on the scalp before dying of “natural causes”. By that time- they are visible to the naked eye.

The majority of lice are much smaller. Many photos on the internet show extremely severe infections of many, many adult lice. This fuels the perception that lice are easy to see.

Lice are also able to camouflage their color to match their hosts hair in order to avoid detection. No wonder they are so hard to find! They are small, they blend in, they swiftly hide when alerted to the presence of potential danger and many people don’t even know what they look like.

Studies on lice are absolutely essential to keep up with the rapid evolution of lice and their alarming rate of people they are infecting. We don’t even have a current estimate of how many people have lice anymore. I did read an article written within the last 5 years that estimated 25% of all children aged 13 and younger have a current and active lice infection. If this is the case- 25% or more children not only have lice, but are contagious. Combine this with the difficulty in treating lice, the lack of accurate information about them and we have the makings of an eventual super epidemic that will be more than a “nuisance” to people who are at greater risk of disease and complications.