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Head lice is a nightmare for every parent with a child in daycare or school. It has nothing to do with how clean you or your child is, it comes from the sharing and closeness at school. The scalp becomes very itchy and red. The head lice must be treated quickly with a head lice treatment before it spreads quickly through the whole family. The itching leads to scratching that can cause a skin infection. Any skin infection is dangerous as it could form a more serious infection within the body.

Getting over the stigma that is still attached to head lice these days can be difficult for children. They need to know that anybody can catch head lice and that it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the child who has it. While recurring head lice can point to a larger problem, a child or family that has this occurrence should not be shunned or avoided.

An old proverb states, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This is especially true of head lice. Even after using a head lice treatment to fight a current infestation, re-infestation can occur. Some prevention, such as following certain prescribed steps, can help control the problem in your house. This will serve to help prevent head lice from becoming a continuous problem.

Children infected with lice must immediately be sent home from school and day care centers. At home, all the family members should be treated as if they have lice. Make sure to find out how to get rid of lice, you will find out that there is a special comb that needs to be used in order to get rid of lice, but lice shampoo in conjunction with the comb is the most effective, provided you follow the directions exactly.

In addition, nobody should return to school, work, or daycare until all the linens in the house have been washed, the carpets, mattresses, and furniture should be vacuumed thoroughly. Making sure that there are no remaining traces of head lice is the most important part of the head lice treatment. Leaving only a few live eggs behind can be enough to cause a new outbreak.

Remember that head lice can be a recurring problem. So, once it has appeared in a classroom or daycare center, weekly 'head checks' of the children may need to replace the common monthly 'head checks' that most schools already participate in until all evidence of head lice is gone.