How are head lice transmitted?
A. Lice travel by crawling. They do not fly or jump. The primary route of transmission is via head-to-head contact between close persons. Lice live only for a short time off of a human host head, an average of 12-24 hours. Transfer of head lice by inanimate objects such as combs, hairbrushes, hats, scarves, headphones, stuffed animals and sporting gear (batting helmets) has been implicated in popular literature, but not demonstrated in scientific evidence. So, direct head-to-head contact is more likely to be the mode of transmission.
