Why two weeks?

OyWithThePoodles, RN · Feb 14, 2019

Good question, I have wondered this as well. Nits maybe?

Needing our resident lice expert to chime in.

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · Feb 14, 2019

I am wondering if this is one of those sacred cow things that none of us question.

Of course when RJ junior had the lice in the 2nd grade we got rid of a lot of stuffed animals she never wanted but refused to give up. They all just....disappeared during Licemageddon.

yaRNthrower, BSN, RN · Feb 14, 2019

I have pondered this question as well :))))

UrbanHealthRN, BSN, RN · Feb 14, 2019

It all comes down to the nits and very hypothetical worst case scenarios. Picture this:

My child comes home from school needing head lice treatment. After doing all the necessary hair care, I move on to cleaning her bedroom and decide to bag up some stuffed animals on her bed that she always sleeps with.

My daughter's head last had contact with those stuffed animals twelve hours ago. There's a stray, pregnant louse sitting on one of those animals that hasn't died yet.

The louse makes her way into the plastic bag and proceeds to lay her nits the next day before dying.

The nits don't die, because I somehow leave the plastic bag near a heat source that provides constant warmth. The nits also take a full 10 days to incubate before finally hatching.

After the nits hatch, the new lice turn out to be very hardy and don't die off until nearly 48 hours later.

The lice are now dead, 2 weeks have passed, and I proceed to take the stuffed animals back out of the bag and give them back to my daughter.

The end.

That's science for ya!

OldDude · Feb 14, 2019

56 minutes ago, UrbanHealthRN said:
It all comes down to the nits and very hypothetical worst case scenarios. Picture this:
My child comes home from school needing head lice treatment. After doing all the necessary hair care, I move on to cleaning her bedroom and decide to bag up some stuffed animals on her bed that she always sleeps with.
My daughter's head last had contact with those stuffed animals twelve hours ago. There's a stray, pregnant louse sitting on one of those animals that hasn't died yet.
The louse makes her way into the plastic bag and proceeds to lay her nits the next day before dying.
The nits don't die, because I somehow leave the plastic bag near a heat source that provides constant warmth. The nits also take a full 10 days to incubate before finally hatching.
After the nits hatch, the new lice turn out to be very hardy and don't die off until nearly 48 hours later.
The lice are now dead, 2 weeks have passed, and I proceed to take the stuffed animals back out of the bag and give them back to my daughter.
The end.
That's science for ya!

This is a pretty good theory!! I'm not convinced a louse would lay an egg on a cold inanimate object but if they did, I'm not convinced you keep your house at a constant 98.6 degrees...otherwise it seems feasible - move over Bill Nye the Science Guy!!

UrbanHealthRN, BSN, RN · Feb 14, 2019

3 minutes ago, OldDude said:
This is a pretty good theory!! I'm not convinced a louse would lay an egg on a cold inanimate object but if they did, I'm not convinced you keep your house at a constant 98.6 degrees...otherwise it seems feasible - move over Bill Nye the Science Guy!!

I completely agree with you, OldDude! I'm guessing her maternal instincts were kicking in real strong and she just HAD to get those babies out. Do lice have labor contractions? I don't know, lol.

And as far as the temp goes, this house would definitely not be mine! I'm up in New England, and short of my cat deciding to roost on top of the bag for 10 days, I'd say this scenario's home involves Miami without air conditioning.