headlice November 7th, 2007
During a Lice infestation, most toys do not present a problem at all. Only toys on which a child has likely laid his head are a concern. The main guilty parties are stuffed animals. As we have said previously, lice do not burrow into furry toys by nature. The only concern is a surviving louse that may have strayed off the child’s head directly on to the toy or a stray hair stuck to the toy with a viable nit on it. This only applies to a louse that has had the opportunity to feed on a human head within the past 24 – 48 hours, or a nit that has grown for a few days while on the head, and is likely to hatch soon.
Stuffed toys can often be put into the dryer on high heat. Such toys should be put into the dryer for ½ hour. If the toys have delicate parts, or cannot withstand high heat for any other reason, they should be placed into large garbage type bags, and sealed for 48 hours.
Additional items to pay attention to are headphones from play stations or personal music gadgets, bicycle and sports helmets, and any other toy that is used on your child’s head. Seal the bags securely with a knot or a tight twist-tie. As we have explained, in our professional experience treating thousands of families with head lice, 48 hours is a sufficient amount of time to assure that there will be no re-infestation resulting from the toys and protective headgear.
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headlice November 5th, 2007
After a child has been treated with a Lice Shampoo, and had the nits properly combed out, attention must be given to the home. Removing the possibility of a re-infestation of headlice is crucial, and not very difficult. We have addressed treating bed linens in Lice Information and Remedies for the Bedroom
The same lice treatment instructions that apply to bed linens apply to clothing and outerwear. Any item of clothing that has been worn by a child in the last few days prior to being diagnosed with lice or nits, could potentially contain a hair with a viable nit on it. If it was worn in the previous 24-48 hours the clothing could theoretically even contain a surviving hair louse. This includes sweaters, sweatshirts, and outerwear such as coats and jackets. When dealing with nits or head lice, it is wise to be extra cautious about items worn directly on the head – hats, scarves, baseball caps, earmuffs, etc. You do not have to fumigate your closets and drawers! Only items that have been in direct recent contact are cause for concern.
In a closet where clothing is pushed tightly up against each other, you should also treat those garments that were pressed directly against the items that we have described above. You do not need to be concerned beyond those secondary items. Remember, lice are human parasites. They need human blood to survive. Lice do not embed themselves in clothing. The only concern is a louse that came off the head within the last 24 hours, or a lice egg ("nit") on a hair, that was transferred by friction on to an adjacent item.
Any items that can tolerate it should be washed in hot water. If they cannot be washed, they should be put into the dryer for ½ hour on high heat. If neither of these is possible, these items should be bagged for 48 hours.
Tie the top of the bag with a knot or a twist-tie. In the case that there is a live lice bug on any garment, it will die within 24-48 hours because it has no access to human blood. In the case of stray hairs with nits, the fact that they are in a sealed bag is equally beneficial. Any newly hatched nymph will die right away without a human head on which to feed.
Upcoming topics:
- Cleaning toys when a Child has Nits.
- Hair Accessories from a Lice Infested Child.
- Bathroom advice for treating Lice.
- Lice or Nits and Your Car.
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headlice October 31st, 2007
continued from Lice Help - Removing Lice from Bedroom Furniture
Human hair lice could find their way onto bedding, and survive a few hours – long enough to climb back onto a child’s head. Because of this information about head lice, linens from the bed of the infected person must be washed in boiling water. This would include the pillows, quilts and blankets used by the infected child as well. You do not have to ruin your linens in order to remedy head lice problems. If the linen cannot be washed, then it should be put into the dryer on high heat for at least 20 minutes. The reason this will help, is because of the factual lice and nits information: lice and nits cannot survive in heat that is too hot for a human being.
If the linen absolutely cannot be put into the dryer, there is another option. The linen should be placed into large garbage type bags, and sealed. Tying the top of the bag with a knot or a twist-tie is a sufficient method for this home lice remedy. The purpose of this, is that in the case that there is a live lice bug on those linens, it will die within 24-48 hours because it has no access to human blood.
In the case of stray hairs that may have a nit on them, the fact that they are in a sealed bag is an equally beneficial home remedy for headlice.
Normally, on the head, once a nit is laid, it will hatch 7-10 days later. This is the reason that some people recommend bagging the linen for 2 weeks. As discussed in a previous post, lice lay their nits near the scalp because they need human warmth to grow. A newly laid nit will likely not grow and remain viable once the hair is off of the head. A nit that is already close to hatching, can theoretically still hatch. Sealed inside a plastic bag, the nymph, or new baby louse is doomed, since it needs to eat blood right away in order to survive. At Licenders, we have professionally treated thousands of families and been to thousands of homes. Our experience at Licenders, is that bagging these items for 48 hours is sufficient. Specially formulated remedies for home removal of head lice are superfluous.
Exaggerating the information about home head lice removal, will not remedy the lice problem! Look for information in future blogs about equally simple remedies for removing lice from articles as clothing, accessories and toys.
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headlice October 24th, 2007
Lice extermination in the house is necessary, but there is no need to get overwhelmed. As we said in our previous post, there are things that must be done when you have a headlice problem in your house. It is simple and easy to clean out lice in furniture and main living rooms in your house. In just a few minutes, you can easily treat most of your home for headlice.
The problem is a louse can crawl off of a head onto a pillow, the head rest of a couch, or any other location where a person typically rests their head. Although this is not where head lice thrive, it can happen. The louse will die usually within 24 hours off of a human head. Without human blood it simply can’t live. It cannot lay nits (lice eggs) anyplace off of a head either. In such an instance, it is possible that once it has crawled onto furniture, a louse can crawl back onto a different child’s head in the short time that it is still alive. Despite the fact that this situation seems unlikely, it can happen, and the risk is significant enough to warrant some attention.
to be continued
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