2018 Lice

Specialties School

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I have a girl with chronic lice. Non compliant with treatment, and mom "can't make her do it."

Other parents are worried because she is on a sports team that has lots of close contact.

Thoughts on how to handle this?

Specializes in School Nurse. Having conversations with littles..
We have gone to a don't ask, don't care attitude at the school. We encourage families to invest in a comb and do monthly checks. Don't care if you find them, don't really want to know. Woohoo! Liberating.

Now. That's. What. I'm. Talkin. About.!!!! AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!:yes:

The title of this post cracked me up. I thought it was going to be about a new and improved "Lice 2.0"...

Me too! I wanted to learn more about this new strain of superlice.

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

I'm not a school nurse but as a specialist in adolescent psych I see my fair share of Head lice. The facility I work for has some rather draconian lice policies - isolating patients, drenching them with chemicals that are often ineffective because the lice have become immune to them. So I did my own research and found to my surprise that except for the "ICK" factor the CDC does not consider head lice to be a public health concern as they do not contrary to popular belief transmit disease and are considered "Normal human Flora". There are no particular hygiene behaviors that can predict or prevent lice from occurring. Here is the CDC fact sheet on lice to share with those parents. CDC - Lice - Head Lice - General Information - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Also in my research I have found there is s whole billion dollar cottage industry around the eradication of these little buggers. See Lice treatment centers of America for a location near you. It's private pay of course but cash is king in all things.

I would also say that about 50% of the kids that I see diagnosed with head lice don't have it as the untrained eye doesn't know what it's looking at and in advanced cased of scalp dermatitis the chemicals only make it look worse. Better to coat the entire hair shaft with olive oil and comb through from the the shaft to the tip.

Hppy

Hppy

Another trick to find the nits is to use a black light, they glow. Then comb them out with the nit comb. This works well on kids with darker hair. I have also heard that mayonnaise on the hair overnight with a shower cap works as well.

Specializes in Surgical Specialty Clinic - Ambulatory Care.

Ha!!!! Pets!!! That was great! And no it is not mean. If you ask me, when we've tried the killing with kindness route and it didn't work; then we should be quite a bit more cutting. I love people who were born in the 1930s and 40s, those people can be so cutting, but they are always honest about their opinions and thoughts. I we need more of that in society.

Specializes in Surgical Specialty Clinic - Ambulatory Care.

I read your link hppygr8ful, I saw no where in that link where the CDC thought of lice as 'normal human flora'. Really though anything that causes discomfort "sleeplessness and itching" per your link and can be spr ad to others relatively easy should not be allowed in public schools. I mean if you knew that your kid had a high risk of getting lice many times during their school years related to a decreased regulation of lice policy in schools would you send them still? Scabies kind of falls in this same category...not over all terrible for humans but itchy, annoying, and worse cases a little painful. But if it relatively easily spread why would you send your kid to that?

Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.
I read your link hppygr8ful, I saw no where in that link where the CDC thought of lice as 'normal human flora'. Really though anything that causes discomfort "sleeplessness and itching" per your link and can be spr ad to others relatively easy should not be allowed in public schools. I mean if you knew that your kid had a high risk of getting lice many times during their school years related to a decreased regulation of lice policy in schools would you send them still? Scabies kind of falls in this same category...not over all terrible for humans but itchy, annoying, and worse cases a little painful. But if it relatively easily spread why would you send your kid to that?

Your kid only has a "high risk of getting lice" at school if they're rubbing heads with a friend who has lice.

It's very rare that they're transmitted any other way. I do, however, send my kids to school every day knowing there's a tiny percentage they'll get lice. My kids range from elementary through high school & (knock on wood) we've not had an instance. I'd guess an overwhelming percentage of kids make it through school never having lice. They have a better chance of catching a common cold, which can cause discomfors & sleeplessness, and I still send them.

Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.
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I would also say that about 50% of the kids that I see diagnosed with head lice don't have it as the untrained eye doesn't know what it's looking at

Hppy

This right here. Sometimes even the trained eye! Case in point:

I had my kids at a chain haircut place over the summer & my oldest was in the chair. The girl who was to cut his hair called someone else over and they started coming through his hair. I'm sitting there thinking - what the heck is going on? Then they call me over and tell me they can't cut his hair - what? why? Because they said he had lice. I about flipped my shizzle. Impossible, I tell them. So she starts going through his hair showing me the white flecks. Dandruff or dried product, it's not nits. Show me a live bug. She still was not convinced and told me that it wasn't coming out of his hair - because you just sprayed it soaking wet!! Of course it's going to be a little stuck now!! I did pull the - I'm a school nurse and deal with this all the time - card. Finally I convinced her she was wrong. The boy needed a haircut so I did let her do it but I was so ticked. I sent them an email shaming them that someone whose business is hair doesn't know what lice/nits look like & we haven't been back.

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I read your link hppygr8ful, I saw no where in that link where the CDC thought of lice as 'normal human flora'. Really though anything that causes discomfort "sleeplessness and itching" per your link and can be spr ad to others relatively easy should not be allowed in public schools. I mean if you knew that your kid had a high risk of getting lice many times during their school years related to a decreased regulation of lice policy in schools would you send them still? Scabies kind of falls in this same category...not over all terrible for humans but itchy, annoying, and worse cases a little painful. But if it relatively easily spread why would you send your kid to that?

The CDC has demonstrated through evidence based practice that human lice do not jump from head to head. That they do not carry or spread disease and they do not constitute a public health risk.

Hppy

Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
Another trick to find the nits is to use a black light, they glow. Then comb them out with the nit comb. This works well on kids with darker hair. I have also heard that mayonnaise on the hair overnight with a shower cap works as well.

Black light? Do you know if you can get one cheap?

Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.

Pretty sure they're in all the supply catalogs with the hand washing glow type stuff.

Specializes in School Nurse.
Black light? Do you know if you can get one cheap?

I bought a cheap one off of eBay, it looks like a little flashlight (

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