Q: I was just notified of an outbreak of head lice in my daughter's classroom. How will I know if my daughter also has lice? And if she does, are there any effective natural remedies or do I have to use traditional pesticide treatments?
Head lice infestations are exceedingly common, affecting 6-12 million children in the United States per year. Fall is the peak season for head lice; however, there are also frequent outbreaks when children return to school following winter break.
Parents should do weekly head lice checks for school-age children throughout the fall and early winter months. Head lice are diagnosed by finding live lice in the hair or nits (lice eggs) on the hair shaft near the scalp. To inspect your child's hair, sit in a well-lighted area and comb through small sections of hair beginning at the nape of the neck. Nits are tiny, oval and white. They adhere to the hair shaft by a glue-like substance, unlike dandruff, which is easily removed.
If your child has head lice, an over-the-counter shampoo such as permethrin 1 percent (Nix) is the recommended first-line treatment. Prescription-strength medications are available for resistant cases. These treatments are highly effective for killing live lice; however, they do not destroy 100 percent of the nits or eggs. For this reason, it is important to comb through your child's hair daily and remove the nits until the head lice are gone. The shampoo treatment also should be repeated in seven to 10 days.
Finally, you should wash all your child's recently worn clothing and bedding in hot water and vacuum the carpet and upholstered furniture. Any items such as stuffed animals that cannot be washed should be placed in plastic bags for two weeks to ensure that the lice have died.
Many home remedies have been tested for killing head lice, including vinegar, alcohol, olive oil, petroleum jelly and tea tree oil. Petroleum jelly, when applied to the hair and left for eight hours, can kill live lice. But it does not work as well as permethrin 1 percent. None of the others has been shown to be effective treatments for head lice.
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