In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that around 6 million to 12 million children aged three to 11 years have head lice infestation. Some people may have hosted these parasites on their mane in a much more severe case.
Some of the worst cases of lice infestation are shared online.The Lice Angels' team of lice removal experts uploaded a Tiktok clip that showed a horrific infestation of lice on a girl.
@theliceangels DONT LOOK YOU MIGHT GET SICK! Worst LICE CASE EVER! #foryoupage #liceremoval #foryou #FYP #theliceangels #Lice #fypppppppp #Piojos ♬ original sound - The Lice Angels
The video, reported in The US Sun, showed a girl with long, brown hair sitting in a chair covered with plastic for the lice removal process. The lice removal team sprayed the hair and ran the lice comb through it, revealing hundreds of lice caught in a single sweep.
The team prepared an industrial setup for the lice removal procedure to treat the lice infestation and contamination. The team sprayed the hair with conditioner, while the attendant had paper towels on hand.
While the video clip had more than 30 million viewers, the people were horrified with the video.
One person wondered, "How do people let it get that bad tho?" While other comments expressed astonishment, "Omg that scalp turned into an entire ecosystem." A netizen also remarked, "That's not hair anymore, that's [a] zoo."
Nest of lice
In 2014, a similar video showed an extreme case of head lice infestation as a mom combed through her daughter's hair with a lice comb. The lice comb showed hundreds of lice brushed off from the child's hair when the mother managed to pull the brush free from the hair. Experts think that the lice may have been thriving in the child's head for so long that it managed to build a nest on the child's hair.
Dee Wright, a salon owner who also provides lice treatments, said that the video was similar to some of the cases she encountered. She told Mirror that they had seen customers with lice nests, which refers to so many lice clumped together.
Wright said that female head lice could lay up to 300 eggs during their 30-day life span. She added that the human head could host several thousands of lice, but a typical infestation has fewer bugs.
In the video, the mum continuously brushed off the lice without washing or clearing the comb of bugs. Wright advised well-meaning moms to use a lice comb on wet hair and wash the lice off the comb after each stroke.
Death due to Severe Lice Infestation
In October 2020, The New York Times reported of parents who faced murder charges for the death of Kaitlyn Yozviak, who doctors said had severe lice infestation that was enough to kill her.
Although the findings raised some eyebrows, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported that the 12-year-old girl had no bruises on her body and was not malnourished. The authorities even reported that she had just eaten before her mother found her unconscious.
The girls' death was listed as cardiac arrest and severe anemia due to repeated lice bites that lowered her blood iron levels. The parents, John Joseph Yozviak, 38, and Mary Katherine Horton, 37, were charged with second-degree murder and cruelty to children in the second degree.
