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Head lice advice is
start from scratch
Queensland Health is reassuring families that help was available to guide and support their efforts to manage head lice.
Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young said head lice were spread by direct head-to-head contact.
“Head lice are more prevalent in child care centres and primary school, as children’s
learning and playing involves a lot more head-to-head contact,” Dr Young said.
“Although adults can also get head lice too.”
| Health assures that help available |
She said families were often frustrated and confused trying to control head lice and spent precious time and money on a range of treatments.
Dr Young said the best way to control head lice was to check each member of the family once a week.
“If you detect head lice early, you can start treatment quickly before large numbers of lice are produced,” she said.
“This way you can break the head lice breeding cycle.”
She said Queensland Health recommended parents use the ‘conditioner and combing’ technique to detect and treat head lice as it was safe, economical and avoided the use of chemical insecticides.
“Head lice are fragile creatures off the head and quickly die from dehydration,” she said.
“They need warmth, moisture and blood from the scalp to survive.”
Dr Young said while head lice were a nuisance, they did not cause disease or illness.
She said comprehensive step-by-step information and fact sheets on managing head lice were available from this PS News link.
Edition 201, 26 January 2012
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