Head lice: the back-to-school scourge

It’s hardly the Black Death, but the threat of head lice is at the forefront of many a parent’s mind as the new scholastic year rolls in. It’s less about enduring negative effects on health, and more of a cosmetic spot of bother.

Not that you can exactly blame parents, teachers and – perhaps especially – children for wanting to (quite literally) nip the problem in the bud: let’s be honest, who wants to have little bugs making a temporary home of their scalp?

Though intrinsically harmless in the long run, the head louse – Pediculus humanus capitis – is kind of gross by proxy: its job is to latch onto the human scalp, feeding on its host’s blood to stay alive. And in what is perhaps the most disgusting detail of the ordeal, they then proceed to lay their eggs – commonly referred to as ‘nits’ – in the host’s hair.

It’s not a carrier of disease – that dubious honour goes to its cousin, the body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) – but given that it spreads in much the same way as a contagion among young children in schools every year, the head louse often comes packaged with an appropriate degree of mass concern (not to say hysteria) among teachers and parents.

Aiming to reach the scalp at all costs, head lice effectively play Tarzan with hair: using strands of it to find purchase before digging their teeth in. Which is why rowdy school kids in particular will be vulnerable to the overzealous little bugs year in and year out: they’re bound to bump into each other as they run and play, leaving ample space and time for the lice to spread their dominion over entire school populations.

How to deal with head lice

For starters, head lice and nits can be tough to spot. Apart from being tiny, they are often effectively camouflaged by the host’s hair. Which is why it’s best to go blitzkrieg on the beasties rather than tackling them individually.

One common ‘home hack’ for head lice is simply brushing the buggers away. Coating the victim’s hair in olive oil and going through it with a fine-tooth comb will isolate and catch them.

Though its effectiveness has been debated, tea-tree oil is also sometimes used as a home remedy for head lice, with parents applying it to their children’s scalp overnight in a bid to eradicate the little invaders.

Speaking to MaltaToday, general practitioner Dr Patrick Mahoney also pointed out that topical treatment and creams can be used, such as for example Permethrin.

And although the belief that “dirty” and “poor” children are more prone to hosting lice has long been debunked, Mahoney recommends “good general hygiene” as a starting point precaution to keep lice at bay as schools open their doors this season.

“It’s also recommended to screen the child’s scalp, gather up long hair and, as far as is possible, avoid situations in which children’s hair comes into close contact.”

One local pharmacist who preferred to remain anonymous opined that, in fact, concern about head lice among primary school children may in fact be a tad overzealous. This is an opinion that appears to be gaining traction even internationally, with publications like Slate and The New York Times running op-ed pieces suggesting everyone take a chill pill when it comes to head lice; especially when draconian measures are applied, such as removing a child from call – the head lice ‘patient zero’ – until they are free of them to avoid the risk of infecting the rest of the class.

However, Mahoney disagrees that too much of a fuss is made about head lice each year, and that “if anything, more education is needed” since one infected child could potentially invade an entire classroom with relative ease.

“I believe that parents should be better educated about it, along with more efficient screening at school,” Mahoney said.