With the opening of a new school year, parents are confronted with a new concern: treatment-resistant super lice were found crawling through the children's hair. This case is true to at least 25 states, which alarms parents and teachers that it might spread.
This concern becomes severe as some parents wants to ban children with lice from school, which prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics to issue an updated guideline. The guideline disapproves that children with lice be barred from a class, stating that the condition is not a health hazard.
"Head lice is a nuisance, not a serious disease or a sign of poor hygiene," American Academy of Pediatrics notes, via CBS News. A study also suggests that there's a low lice transmission within the classrooms.
Maria Botham is one of the parents who have the said problem with her daughter. She told Danielle Nottingham of CBS News, "Lucia started school a week ago, and I meant to do it two weeks ago, which I really wish I did, but here we are. I found a louse on her already, and it's a pretty big guy.
According to Centers for Disease Control, head lice is most common among preschool children who are attending child care, elementary school children and in the household members of infested children. There are 6 to 12 million infestation each year in the U.S. among children between the ages 3 to 11.
So, what should parents do to protect their children from infestation? Here's a few tips from Hoboken Patch to avoid hosting head lice.
1. Inform children to avoid head-to-head contact. Center for Disease Control reports that the most common way of getting head lice is through a head-to-head contact with an already infested person. Thus, children should refrain from having a direct head contact with their classmates, including playing headbutting sports, hugging, sleeping over or staying in close quarters at camp.
2. Prohibit children from borrowing personal stuffs. Parents should equip their children with all the things they need so they don't end up borrowing others things specially hats, jackets, hair ribbons/barrettes or scarves to name a few which may cause the spread.
3. Wash clothes and sheets regularly. It would be difficult for lice to survive away from its host for more than a day or so. It will help if clothes, sheets and pillow cases are regularly washed to neutralize them and their eggs.
4. Seek medical help. Try specialized shampoos and combs, but if these don't work anymore there are treatments only available via prescription, so better approach a professional.
