Here is some advice from experts on head lice: parents of Alvarado students! I slipped in some information from Dr. Andrew Weil's web site and our past nurse recommends the CDC web site.

Head lice are a common problem for school-aged children. They're not a health hazard, but having lice can be embarrassing for children.

Head lice are catchy, almost like a cold. Yet, for such a tiny insect, the head louse brings a slew of stigmas and misconceptions along with it. Contrary to popular belief, head lice:

• Are not a sign of uncleanliness.
• Can neither jump, hop, nor fly.
• Cannot be contracted from pets or domesticated livestock.
• Cannot live for more than a few days away from the scalp (but eggs can survive for up to fourteen days).
• Do not carry any known diseases in the United States, and consequently pose no major health threat.
• Do not target particular socioeconomic groups.
• They will, however, make you itch. Head lice inhabit our hair and feed only on human blood. These light-colored, wingless insects—roughly about the size of shelled sesame seeds—can typically be found on hair behind the ears, at the back of the neck, and at the top of the head.

Parents can take a few precautionary measures to prevent the spread of lice among other members of your household:

• Launder your child's clothing, bedding, and towels separately from other items. Soak in water temperatures of 130-140°F for at least ten minutes and dry on a hot setting. If you raise your water boiler's temperature, remember to lower it later to prevent burns.
• Don't share hair items. Sterilize your child's comb and brushes in rubbing alcohol or hot, soapy water (130°F) for one hour.
• Carefully vacuum your home, including rugs, upholstered furniture, stuffed animals, mattresses, and car seats. Although many experts believe lice will perish in the vacuum bag, tossing the vacuum bag adds an extra precautionary step. Wipe vinyl furniture and seating clean.
• Wash or dry clean your child's teddy bear or other favorite items, but don't necessarily throw them away. Bagging or isolating delicate items for at least fourteen days will kill any lice and nits.
• Never spray pesticides on furniture, pets, carpets, or other household items to control head lice. Spraying creates an unnecessary pesticide risk to humans.
• Conduct visual exams. If your school sends a precautionary notice, check your child's head closely and regularly. It's a good idea to check all other members of your household.
• Share with other parents. Lice can be a sticky subject, no pun intended. Still, keeping mum means your child can spread them to playmates and be reinfested later.

What Alvarado parents should know:

• The district does not have a nit-free policy, so the kids can be back at school the next day.
• When a classroom is hit a flyer will be sent home
• There is an information sheet in the office in both Spanish and English

More advice (from Dr. Andrew Weil's web site):

To treat head lice:

• Try a natural solution of one-percent permethrin cream rinse, sold as Nix and Neem, which is derived from a tree in India. While lice can develop resistance to permethrin products and they can aggravate asthma in some children, both are relatively nontoxic.
• Lice B Gone, a non-toxic, multi-enzyme shampoo made from plant sources that seems to get rid of lice in a single application, is another option. It works by softening the glue that holds the nits (lice eggs) to the hair shaft and also dissolves the exoskeletons of adult lice. Since it contains no pesticides, Lice B Gone is considered safe for pregnant women, nursing mothers, young children and people with asthma.
  

From an Alvarado parent:

Try to check your kid's hair frequently to decrease the risk of spreading it to others. It is recommended to use a metal comb and not the plastic one that comes with the lice shampoo. There is a resistance to the shampoo, so nit picking for at least a week afterwards is crucial for success. Don't rely on the shampoo to do the job for you. Lice will always go around but we can try to do our share to decrease the spread. For more info, you can go to www.headlice.org and numerous other sources.

Another bit of advice: KEEP YOUR KID'S LONG HAIR TIED, FOR YOUR SAKE AND FOR OTHERS. Even if my kids liked the fact they could watch TV, play gameboy and computer games while getting checked, I can think of a lot more fun things to do for hours a day.

Treatment is not enough and may not be necessary if you are a vigilant picker. There is a 50% (or more) resistance to the treatment, which means half of the bugs will still be alive after a treatment. Metal combs are better than the plastic ones. I like to cut off the strain of hair that has a nit, to make sure I get it all. Daily picks for at least 7-10 days, and then daily checks, are the best way to prevent recurrence. A second treatment should only be necessary if you see new nits after a week. Nothing is as good as thourough nit-picking.

From the pediatric nursing standpoint: there's an interesting alternative to the more toxic lice treatments out there--here's a paragraph about the use of Cetaphil lotion for treating head lice. "Dr. Dale L. Pearlman of Menlo Park performed and published the first clinical trial documenting a high efficacy for a non-neurotoxic lotion in the treatment of head lice. The trials were performed on children who had "difficult to treat head lice," those who failed conventional (Neurotoxic Pediculicides) in treating their head lice. The lotion is applied to the scalp, blown dry in place which creates a "shrink wrapped" atmosphere consequently suffocating the lice. His trial revealed an overall 96% cure rate."

The data are published in: Pediatrics.2005 May;115(5) 1452-53

As with any other treatment, I would check with your child's medical provider first, but this is an interesting idea, especially given how toxic the traditional treatments are.

If you don't want to use pesticides: here is a natural repellent you can make at home (it was given to me by a herbal pharmacist who, as you will read below, used it for her child).

(In addition there is a natural line of products based on the more less same ingredients that you can order from www.FairyTalesHairCare.com.):

• 5 drops of tea tree oil
• 5 drops lavendar
• 5 drops eucalyptus
• 5 drops rosemary
• 5 drops peppermint
• in 8 ounces of olive oil

I drenched my children's hair (thick. long and tight curls) in this mixture and combed it through with a hair pick. (For those of you with curly hair you know exactly what I mean.) I then wrapped their heads with saran wrap so that there was no way any air could get to their heads. They slept like this overnight. The next morning I went through their heads 10-15 strands at a time - yes this process is VERY labor intensive - and removed all eggs and critters. I repeated this for the next two days and then again at one week and again at ten days.

Updated: 01/27/2008