On Air

They don’t jump, fly, swim or hop nor are they a sign of dirty hair.  They won't make your hair drop out or cause brain damage, as some poor souls thought they did a recent study reported..infact, they don’t pose any serious threat to our health, yet it has to be said an infestation of head lice can drive parents to their Nits End, if you’ll pardon the pun.  Even the mere mention of the words head lice can make you itch.......yet a constant itch isn’t necessarily an indicator that a child or an adult whose been in head to head contact with an infected person, has head lice. 

The only thing that can tell you is to regularly contact trace a child with a fine tooth comb and then if you find a living moving louse, not an empty egg case, known as a nit, that you do a little detective work and ensure that both the child and all those that have been in head to head contact are traced, combed and if necessary treated...and that’s everyone, adults included. 

There's no over-the-counter or prescription treatments to kill lice that are totally safe (but then again every treatment has a tiny risk factor/side effect profile) and scientifically proven to be 100% effective against head lice.   Various "natural" remedies are vigorously marketed on the Internet but experts believe there’s little or no scientific basis for their claims of efficacy and human safety.

Manual & Mechanical removal of live lice and nits using conditioner to ‘wet’ the hair and laborously combing out the head lice with a fine tooth comb is the only truly safe alternative with any evidence to back up its efficacy.  Here in the UK this method has been termed as ‘Bug Busting’ and popularised by the charity Community Hygiene Concern. http://www.chc.org/bugbusting/

Further information and advice on the prevention and treatment of head lice.click here to visit the Department of Health website www.doh.gov.uk