WHAT ARE HEAD LICE?
Head lice are small insects (about 1/8 of an inch in size) that live and breed on the human scalp. They live approximately 40-50 days and go through three stages in their life cycle: eggs, nymphs and adults. They are about the size of sesame seeds, reddish brown in color, and can be detected by carefully inspecting the scalp with a magnifying glass and plenty of light. You should know that head lice are treatable, very rarely cause serious health problems, and don’t warrant great concern.
A. A head louse is a parasitic insect found in human head hair. Adult lice have roughly cigar-shaped bodies and are about as long as a sesame seed. Their bodies range in appearance from translucent and/or nearly colorless to almost totally black. The juvenile louse ranges from a little larger than a period at the end of a sentence to close to adult size, depending on the developmental stage. Adult lice lay eggs that they attach to hairs with a glue-like substance close to the scalp. Most eggs take 7 days for the embryo louse to develop and for the “baby” lice to emerge. It takes a minimum of 10 days for a newborn louse to develop and start laying eggs.
Head lice are tiny insects that live only on people’s scalps and hair. Head lice hatch from small eggs, called nits, that are firmly attached to individual hairs near the scalp and cannot be easily moved up or down the hair shaft (as could specks of dandruff or hair casings). Nits may be found throughout the hair, but are most often located at the back of the scalp, behind the ears, and at the crown of the head. Eggs hatch in about ten days, with new lice reaching adulthood in about two weeks. The female louse, about the size of a sesame seed, typically lives for twenty to thirty days and lays about six eggs a day. Lice live by biting and sucking blood from the scalp. Lice can survive off the body although generally not for longer than forty-eight hours.
· Head lice are wingless obligate parasitic insects that live in the hair and on the scalp. · They are 1~3 mm in length with a flattened body and six legs, each leg having an enlarged “claw” used to cling to the hair shaft. · They are generally grayish~brown to black in color. · They feed using a hollow tube~like device known as a proboscis (similar to the way a mosquito feeds) or by breaking the skin and feeding from the small pool of blood that collects. · They will die if they do not have a “blood meal” within 48 hours. · They cannot jump or fly. · They are not a sign of unsanitary living conditions. · They infest the wealthy and the poor alike. · They cannot live on pets. · Lice are passed through direct and indirect head~to~head contact with an infested person: …by sharing combs/brushes, headbands, barrettes, clothing, hats, ribbons, etc. … by placing clothing in a common area, such as a closet, with clothing of an infested person. … by sharing bedding, towels, pillows, stuf
